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This is a fascinating examination of the relation between absence
and chance in Derrida's work and through that a re-examination of
the relation between war and literature. "Derrida, Literature and
War" argues for the importance of the relation between absence and
chance in Derrida's work in thinking today about war and
literature. Sean Gaston starts by marking Derrida's attempts to
resist the philosophical tradition of calculating on absence as an
assured resource, while insisting on the (mis)chances of the chance
encounter. Gaston re-examines the relation between the concept of
war and the chances of literature by focusing on narratives of
conflict set during the Napoleonic wars. These chance encounters or
duels can help us think again about the sovereign attempt to leave
the enemy nameless or to name what cannot be named in the midst of
wars without end. His study includes new readings of a range of
writers, including Aristotle, Hume, Rousseau, Schiller, Clausewitz,
Thackeray, Tolstoy, Conrad, Freud, Heidegger, Blanchot, Foucault,
Deleuze and Agamben. Offering an authoritative reading of Derrida's
oeuvre and new insights into a range of writers in philosophy and
literature, this is a timely and ambitious study of philosophy,
literature, politics and ethics. "The Philosophy, Aesthetics and
Cultural Theory" series examines the encounter between contemporary
Continental philosophy and aesthetic and cultural theory. Each book
in the series explores an exciting new direction in philosophical
aesthetics or cultural theory, identifying the most important and
pressing issues in Continental philosophy today.
This is a fascinating examination of the relation between absence
and chance in Derrida's work and through that a re-examination of
the relation between war and literature. "Derrida, Literature and
War" argues for the importance of the relation between absence and
chance in Derrida's work in thinking today about war and
literature. Sean Gaston starts by marking Derrida's attempts to
resist the philosophical tradition of calculating on absence as an
assured resource, while insisting on the (mis)chances of the chance
encounter. Gaston re-examines the relation between the concept of
war and the chances of literature by focusing on narratives of
conflict set during the Napoleonic wars. These chance encounters or
duels can help us think again about the sovereign attempt to leave
the enemy nameless or to name what cannot be named in the midst of
wars without end. His study includes new readings of a range of
writers, including Aristotle, Hume, Rousseau, Schiller, Clausewitz,
Thackeray, Tolstoy, Conrad, Freud, Heidegger, Blanchot, Foucault,
Deleuze and Agamben. Offering an authoritative reading of Derrida's
oeuvre and new insights into a range of writers in philosophy and
literature, this is a timely and ambitious study of philosophy,
literature, politics and ethics. "The Philosophy, Aesthetics and
Cultural Theory" series examines the encounter between contemporary
Continental philosophy and aesthetic and cultural theory. Each book
in the series explores an exciting new direction in philosophical
aesthetics or cultural theory, identifying the most important and
pressing issues in Continental philosophy today.
How does one start with Derrida? In this exciting and accessible
book, Sean Gaston presents a new kind of introduction to Jacques
Derrida, arguably the most important and influential European
thinker of the last century. Derrida claimed that 'However old I
am, I am on the threshold of reading Plato and Aristotle ...we need
to read them again and again and again.' In "Starting with
Derrida", Gaston introduces all Derrida's major works and ideas by
tracing Derrida's reading (and re-reading) of Plato, Aristotle and
Hegel throughout his writings. "Starting with Derrida" argues for
the importance of the relationship between philosophy, literature
and history in Derrida's work and addresses all the key concepts in
Derrida's thought, including his work on time and space, being and
the soul, sensation and thought, history and literature, the
concept and the name.The book encourages the reader to enter
Derrida's varied and complex legacy through the moments in
Derrida's work that are concerned with the question of origins and
beginnings. By actively engaging with Derrida's ideas in this way,
Gaston reveals a new and highly original reading of Derrida's work
and provides a useful introduction to his entire corpus. This
exciting new book is essential reading for students of philosophy
and literary theory and, indeed, anyone interested in the work of
this hugely important thinker.
Disinterest has been a major concept in Western philosophy since
Descartes. Its desirability and importance have been disputed, and
its definition reworked by such pivotal figures as Nietzsche,
Shaftesbury, Locke and Kant. In this groundbreaking book, Sean
Gaston looks at the treatment of disinterest in the work of two
major modern Continental philosophers: Jacques Derrida and Emmanuel
Levinas. He identifies both as part of a tradition, obscured since
the eighteenth-century, that takes disinterest to be the opposite
of self-interest, rather than the absence of all interest. Such a
tradition locates disinterest at the centre of thinking about
ethics. The book argues that disinterest plays a significant role
in the philosophy of both thinkers and in the dialogue between
their work. In so doing, it sheds new light on their respective
contributions to moral and political philosophy. Moreover, it
traces the history of disinterest in Western philosophy from
Descartes to Derrida, taking in the contributions of major
philosophers in both the analytic, Anglo-American and Continental
traditions: Locke; Shaftesbury; Hume; Smith; Nietzsche; Kant;
Hegel; and Heidegger. "Derrida and Disinterest" offers a new
reading of Derrida, a stimulating account of the role and
importance of disinterest in the history of Western philosophy, and
a provocative and original contribution to Continental ethics.
This important new book argues that Jacques Derrida's work can be
treated as the basis for a distinctive historiography. The
possibility of seeing Derrida not as a philosopher of language but
as a philosopher of history has become more apparent with the
recent publication of Derrida's 1964-1965 seminar Heidegger: The
Question of Being and History. We now know that the problem of
history was at the heart of Derrida's writing in the mid-1960s,
prior to the publication of his best-known work, Of Grammatology
(1967). Arguing that Derrida's scholarship in the 1960s and early
1970s on historicism, historicity and the problem of history can be
treated as the basis for a philosophy of history, Sean Gaston
focuses on Derrida's work from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s and
his relentless questioning of context, memory and narrative as the
delineation of a deconstructive historiography. The book raises a
challenge for historians to think about both deconstruction and
historiography, arguing that contemporary philosophy can provide a
basis for thinking about history in the name of a deconstructive
historiography that is not incompatible with rigorous historical
scholarship.
This important new book argues that Jacques Derrida's work can be
treated as the basis for a distinctive historiography. The
possibility of seeing Derrida not as a philosopher of language but
as a philosopher of history has become more apparent with the
recent publication of Derrida's 1964-1965 seminar Heidegger: The
Question of Being and History. We now know that the problem of
history was at the heart of Derrida's writing in the mid-1960s,
prior to the publication of his best-known work, Of Grammatology
(1967). Arguing that Derrida's scholarship in the 1960s and early
1970s on historicism, historicity and the problem of history can be
treated as the basis for a philosophy of history, Sean Gaston
focuses on Derrida's work from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s and
his relentless questioning of context, memory and narrative as the
delineation of a deconstructive historiography. The book raises a
challenge for historians to think about both deconstruction and
historiography, arguing that contemporary philosophy can provide a
basis for thinking about history in the name of a deconstructive
historiography that is not incompatible with rigorous historical
scholarship.
In the mid-eighteenth century metaphysics was broadly understood as
the study of three areas of philosophical thought: theology,
psychology and cosmology. This book examines the fortunes of the
third of these formidable metaphysical concepts, the world. Sean
Gaston provides a clear and concise account of the concept of world
from the mid-eighteenth century to the end of the twentieth
century, exploring its possibilities and limitations and engaging
with current issues in politics and ecology. He focuses on the work
of five principal thinkers: Kant, Hegel, Husserl, Heidegger and
Derrida, all of whom attempt to establish new grounds for seeing
the world as a whole. Gaston presents a critique of the
self-evident use of the concept of world in philosophy and asks
whether one can move beyond the need for a world-like vantage point
to maintain a concept of world. From Kant to the present day this
concept has been a problem for philosophy and it remains to be seen
if we need a new Copernican revolution when it comes to the concept
of world.
In the mid-eighteenth century metaphysics was broadly understood as
the study of three areas of philosophical thought: theology,
psychology and cosmology. This book examines the fortunes of the
third of these formidable metaphysical concepts, the world. Sean
Gaston provides a clear and concise account of the concept of world
from the mid-eighteenth century to the end of the twentieth
century, exploring its possibilities and limitations and engaging
with current issues in politics and ecology. He focuses on the work
of five principal thinkers: Kant, Hegel, Husserl, Heidegger and
Derrida, all of whom attempt to establish new grounds for seeing
the world as a whole. Gaston presents a critique of the
self-evident use of the concept of world in philosophy and asks
whether one can move beyond the need for a world-like vantage point
to maintain a concept of world. From Kant to the present day this
concept has been a problem for philosophy and it remains to be seen
if we need a new Copernican revolution when it comes to the concept
of world.
How does one start with Derrida? In this exciting and accessible
book, Sean Gaston presents a new kind of introduction to Jacques
Derrida, arguably the most important and influential European
thinker of the last century. Derrida claimed that 'However old I
am, I am on the threshold of reading Plato and Aristotle ...we need
to read them again and again and again.' In "Starting with
Derrida", Gaston introduces all Derrida's major works and ideas by
tracing Derrida's reading (and re-reading) of Plato, Aristotle and
Hegel throughout his writings. "Starting with Derrida" argues for
the importance of the relationship between philosophy, literature
and history in Derrida's work and addresses all the key concepts in
Derrida's thought, including his work on time and space, being and
the soul, sensation and thought, history and literature, the
concept and the name.The book encourages the reader to enter
Derrida's varied and complex legacy through the moments in
Derrida's work that are concerned with the question of origins and
beginnings. By actively engaging with Derrida's ideas in this way,
Gaston reveals a new and highly original reading of Derrida's work
and provides a useful introduction to his entire corpus. This
exciting new book is essential reading for students of philosophy
and literary theory and, indeed, anyone interested in the work of
this hugely important thinker.
This title explores Derrida's major work through readings of key
passages by such leading scholars as Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, J.
Hillis Miller and Avital Ronnell. With new readings from twenty-one
internationally renowned scholars, "Reading Derrida's 'Of
Grammatology'" is a comprehensive introduction to and exploration
of Jacques Derrida's landmark 1967 text. Since its original
publication, Of Grammatology has had a profound impact on
philosophy, literary theory and the Humanities in general. Through
a series of close readings of selected passages by writers from a
wide range of disciplines, this collection aims to discover anew
this important work and its continuing influence. This book
includes new readings by such commentators as: Gayatri Chakravorty
Spivak; J. Hillis Miller; Jean-Luc Nancy; Derek Attridge; and,
Avital Ronnell. "Reading Derrida's 'Of Grammatology'" is an
essential book for anyone interested in Derrida's work, from
readers new to this book to experienced researchers in philosophy,
literature and the many other disciplines that Of Grammatology has
transformed over the last forty years.
At the time of his death in 2004, Jacques Derrida was arguably the
most influential and controversial thinker in contemporary
philosophy. But how does one respond to the death of Derrida? How
does one mourn for Derrida, who spent thirty years warning of the
dangers of mourning, while insisting that mourning is both
unavoidable and impossible? "The Impossible Mourning of Jacques
Derrida" was written in the first two months after Derrida's death.
In this original and engaging response, Sean Gaston re-examines his
own relationship with this great thinker and traces his own
mourning, while examining the very nature of mourning in Derrida's
work. In exploring the gap that the death of Derrida has left open,
Gaston traces the gaps (ecarts), and the history of the gap, in
Derrida's work. He argues that the inescapable gaps that cannot be
bridged play a central role in Derrida's thought and in our
response to his death. In tracing the ecarts in Derrida's work,
Gaston also takes in Plato, Hegel, Descartes, Kant, Husserl,
Heidegger, Levinas and Lyotard. The book explores how, after the
death of Derrida, we think of him in a history of philosophy and
asserts the importance not only of literature, but also of history
in Derrida's thought. Written in the immediate aftermath of
Derrida's death, this insightful and touching account offers a
fresh analysis of a vital element of Derrida's thought and a
genuine reflection on the implications of Derrida's death for how
we will now address his work.
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