Deconstruction and Pragmatism - Hardcover

Critchley, Simon; Derrida, Jacques; Laclau, Ernesto; Rorty, Richard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0415121698 ISBN 13: 9780415121699

Publisher: Routledge, 1996

Synopsis

Deconstruction and pragmatism constitute two of the major intellectual influences on the contemporary theoretical scene; influences personified in the work of Jacques Derrida and Richard Rorty. Both Rortian pragmatism, which draws the consequences of post-war developments in Anglo-American philosophy, and Derridian deconstruction, which extends and troubles the phonomenological and Heideggerian influence on the Continental tradition, have hitherto generally been viewed as mutually exclusive philosophical language games.
The purpose of this volume is to bring deconstruction and pragmatism into critical confrontation with one another through staging a debate between Derrida and Rorty, itself based on discussions that took place at the College International de Philosophie in Paris in 1993. The ground for this debate is layed out in introductory papers by Simon Critchley and Ernesto Laclau, and the remainder of the volume records Derrida's and Rorty's responses to each other's work. Chantal Mouffe gives an overview of the stakes of this debate in a helpful preface.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Derridean deconstruction and Rortian pragmatism are both accused by their enemies of undermining our ideas of truth and reason, but do their ideas lead to intellectual and political chaos? Both are committed to the democratic project but they reject the necessary link between universalism, rationalism and modern democracy and seek to clarify what is at stake intellectually and politically.

About the Author:

Chantal Mouffe is a Research Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Democracy at the University of Westminster. Jacques Derrida is the Directeur d'Etudes at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris. Richard Rorty is University Professor at the University of Virginia.

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0415121698
• ISBN 13: 9780415121699
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 112
• Editor: Mouffe Chantal