鈥淔or what tomorrow will be, no one knows,鈥� writes Victor Hugo.
This dialogue, proposed to Jacques Derrida by the historian Elisabeth Roudinesco, brings together two longtime friends who share a common history and an intellectual heritage. While their perspectives are often different, they have many common reference points: psychoanalysis, above all, but also the authors and works that have come to be known outside France as 鈥減ost-structuralist.鈥�
Beginning with a revealing glance back at the French intellectual scene over the past forty years, Derrida and Roudinesco go on to address a number of major social and political issues. Their extraordinarily wide-ranging discussion covers topics such as immigration, hospitality, gender equality, and 鈥減olitical correctness鈥�; the disordering of the traditional family, same-sex unions, and reproductive technologies; the freedom of the 鈥渟ubject鈥� over and against 鈥渟cientism鈥�; violence against animals; the haunting specter of communism and revolution; the present and future of anti-Semitism (as well as that which marked Derrida鈥檚 own history) and the hazardous politics of criticizing the state of Israel; the principled abolition of the death penalty; and, to conclude, a chapter 鈥渋n praise of psychoanalysis.鈥�
These exchanges not only help to situate Derrida's thought within the milieu out of which it grew, they also show more clearly than ever how this thought, impelled by a deep concern for justice, can be brought to bear on the social and political issues of our day. What emerges here above all, far from an abstract, apolitical discourse, is a call to take responsibility鈥攆or the inheritance of a past, for the singularities of the present, and for the unforeseeable tasks of the future.
Jacques Derrida was a French philosopher best known for developing deconstruction, a method of critical analysis that questioned the stability of meaning in language, texts, and Western metaphysical thought. Born in Algeria, he studied at the 脡cole Normale Sup茅rieure in Paris, where he was influenced by philosophers such as Heidegger, Husserl, and Levinas. His groundbreaking works, including Of Grammatology (1967), Writing and Difference (1967), and Speech and Phenomena (1967), positioned him at the center of intellectual debates on language, meaning, and interpretation. Derrida argued that Western philosophy was structured around binary oppositions鈥攕uch as speech over writing, presence over absence, or reason over emotion鈥攖hat falsely privileged one term over the other. He introduced the concept of diff茅rance, which suggests that meaning is constantly deferred and never fully present, destabilizing the idea of fixed truth. His work engaged with a wide range of disciplines, including literature, psychoanalysis, political theory, and law, challenging conventional ways of thinking and interpretation. Throughout his career, Derrida continued to explore ethical and political questions, particularly in works such as Specters of Marx (1993) and The Politics of Friendship (1994), which addressed democracy, justice, and responsibility. He held academic positions at institutions such as the 脡cole des Hautes 脡tudes en Sciences Sociales and the University of California, Irvine, and remained an influential figure in both European and American intellectual circles. Despite criticism for his complex writing style and abstract concepts, Derrida鈥檚 ideas have left a lasting impact on contemporary philosophy, literary theory, and cultural criticism, reshaping the way meaning and language are understood in the modern world.
A revolution cannot be programmed. In a certain way, as the only event worthy of the name., it exceeds every possible horizon, every horizon of the possible--and therefore of potency and power.
This sumptuous collection of dialogues (as opposed to interviews as the introduction notes the participants overlap "without fusing") is from 2001 and hovers above a number of topics: the Western Philosophical Heritage, Revolution after the fall of the USSR, Same-Sex Marriage, Adoption and the Freudian implications thereof, Animal Rights, Anti-Semitism, the Death Penalty and the Legacy of Psychoanalysis. Thus a late period Derrida speaks with historian (and avowed Lacanian) Elisabeth Roudinesco about the themes which contoured much of their intellectual careers. No need to peer within for snark or sharp disagreements, as good manners triumphed and Derrida was especially eloquent praising Mandela and speaking of the need to mitigate cruelty to animals. This is an accessible entry to later Derrida. It also provides some insights into Derrida's childhood and his defensiveness in certain situations. Such a master and always paradoxical -- Derrida so valued his privacy, while often gushing in interviews.
鈥溌緿e qu茅 estar谩 hecho el ma帽ana?鈥�. Di谩logo entre Jacques Derrida y 脡lisabeth Roudinesco muy sustancioso. Temas muy diversos: los duelos, la deconstrucci贸n de teor铆as, derechos de los animales, la pena de muerte, etc realmente muy interesante la charla entre estos dos cr谩neos de la filosof铆a y el psicoan谩lisis.
Transcribo peque帽o fragmento del final del libro:
鈥淒.: Usted es m谩s lacaniana que yo. Pero en efecto, si se invierte la jerarqu铆a para atribuir a las madres el antiguo poder de los padres, eso no cambia nada.
脡. R . : Nosotros luchamos por la igualdad y la emancipaci贸n. Pero la experiencia psicoanal铆tica muestra que el poder que ejerce la madre sobre el ni帽o y el lactante puede resultar igualmente destructivo, desde el punto de vista del psiquismo, y hasta m谩s temible todav铆a que el de los padres tir谩nicos. Me gustar铆a mucho que las mujeres, en v铆as de volverse omnipotentes en las sociedades democr谩ticas, atribuyan un nuevo lugar a esos padres que aceptaron la herida narcic铆stica del reparto de sus viejos privilegios. De no ser as铆, 驴qu茅 les va a ocurrir, y qu茅 va a ocurrir a los hombres?
L'homme serait ainsi regard茅 comme une machine dans un corps de chimpanz茅 ,et sa subjectivit茅 ne serait que le fruit d'une illusion "incorrigible" le conduisant 脿 se croire dot茅 d'un libre arbitre. Jacques Derrida " l'impr茅visible libert茅"
Dialogue -parfois laborieux- dans lequel le lecteur pourra trouver des donn茅es bibliographiques ainsi que quelques 茅claircissements sur de grands concepts de la psychanalyse, de la politique ou de la d茅construction. Les interventions de Roudinesco ne sont pas toujours 脿 la hauteur.
Good intro to Derrida. Since the book is a dialogue between him and Elisabeth Roudinesco, it's easy to read, and good ol' Jackie's ideas on diff茅rance are actually approachable.
Eu estava me devendo a (re)leitura deste livro. Havia come莽ado a l锚-lo anos atr谩s e por algum motivo n茫o cheguei ao final. Enfim, aproveitando uma r谩pida viagem, devorei-o de cabo a rabo na ida e na volta. 脡 um livro de leitura 谩gil e que no entanto permite um mergulho de fundura razo谩vel no pensamento de Jacques Derrida, fil贸sofo que a historiadora Elizabeth Roudinesco meio que entrevista aqui. Digo "meio que" porque o resultado final 茅 mais que isso: 茅, como diz o subt铆tulo, um di谩logo, onde, embora a entrevistadora n茫o queira brilhar mais que seu entrevistado, 茅 ela pr贸pria uma gigante do pensamento franc锚s, e debate com Derrida uma s茅rie de quest玫es, que, embora distantes de n贸s quase 15 anos (a edi莽茫o original foi publicada na Fran莽a em 2001) s茫o temas que nunca deixar茫o de ser importantes, desde a pena de morte e o anti-semitismo at茅 os maus-tratos aos animais e as novas configura莽玫es familiares que se formam na sociedade. 脡 um livro fundamental para estimular o pensamento, especialmente em dias t茫o tristes no Brasil de hoje.