Comments on: Jacques Derrida has died

By: MC

MC — Tue, 12 Oct 2004 13:36:58 +0000

Scritti Politti Quote: “I’m in love with his heart of steel, Im in love…” From the song “Jacques Derrida”

By: Alan K. Henderson

Alan K. Henderson — Tue, 12 Oct 2004 06:19:53 +0000

I’m going to mark his death by reading a little Alan Sokal.

By: fafnir

fafnir — Tue, 12 Oct 2004 03:29:15 +0000

Nobody wants to “dirty their hands” to defend Jacques Derrida? Jeez. I don’t really think he needs defendin but we’ll do it if we have to.

By: s_bethy

s_bethy — Mon, 11 Oct 2004 03:50:27 +0000

Fafblog! is warmer as in breathin.

By: Amardeep

Amardeep — Mon, 11 Oct 2004 01:55:59 +0000

Also see Berube’s intro to “Signature Event Context.” It’s here.

By: Chris Stephens

Chris Stephens — Sun, 10 Oct 2004 23:19:19 +0000

Here’s the version of the Derrida “rap” that I heard as an undergraduate: This is the creed of Jacques Derrida, There ain’t no text and there ain’t no reada, There ain’t no writer, eider.

By: Russell Arben Fox

Russell Arben Fox — Sun, 10 Oct 2004 22:37:33 +0000

XT, both Clark and I defend Derrida, at least insofar our own personal interests and perspectives go. Check out the links.

By: david

david — Sun, 10 Oct 2004 18:20:37 +0000

Yeah, I got chilly from you, I just got shameful from the NYT. Balkin was very good. XT, what’s to defend?

By: Motoko

Motoko — Sun, 10 Oct 2004 18:15:25 +0000

He wrote brilliantly. I’m not sure about the future of concepts like dissemination, difference and deconstruction, but his style, the play on words, the metaphors that get reworked over and over again, to me that’s really something extraordinary. I think there will always be admirers of his writings, though perhaps in the way people love Pascal without really being interested in the theological intricacies of Jansenism.

By: mark s

mark s — Sun, 10 Oct 2004 17:59:28 +0000

shorter derrida: justice comes out of argument shorter lilla: no it must be imposed by fiat

By: Kieran Healy

Kieran Healy — Sun, 10 Oct 2004 16:42:48 +0000

I think the poem goes:

Do ya wanna know the creeda Jacques Derrida? There ain’t no reeda. And there ain’t no rida, eida.

Of course, the competing versions (and the lack of attribution) would give the man some satisfaction, I think.

By: xt

xt — Sun, 10 Oct 2004 12:29:18 +0000

Nobody wants to get their hands dirty and defend Jacques Derrida.

By: Tim Rutherford-Johnson

Tim Rutherford-Johnson — Sun, 10 Oct 2004 12:20:24 +0000

Interestingly, according to Moreover’s obituary feed the NYT’s headline was changed from ‘French Theorist’ to ‘Abstruse Theorist’. Definitely some cooling going on. RIP JD.

By: Russkie

Russkie — Sun, 10 Oct 2004 10:28:40 +0000

Someone once wrote a poem about J.D. I think it went:

Lemme tell ya bout Jacques Derrida There ain’t no readuh And there ain’t no writah Eithuh

There’s an excellent assessment of Derrida by Mark Lilla in his book “The Reckless Mind” (also available at http://mural.uv.es/isoduart/lilla-derrida.htm )

By: Clark Goble

Clark Goble — Sun, 10 Oct 2004 08:24:21 +0000

Just to add my own comments, I blogged about him as well.. Interestingly I was at BYU the same time as Russell, although I was primarily in the physics department. I didn’t encounter Derrida until after I’d graduated from BYU, but he has long been one of my favorite philosophers. I think the problem with Derrida is that most people encounter only his later works, without a thorough grounding in his earlier works which set the stage for the latter ones. Indeed if anyone is interested in understanding Derrida’s “project” I’d heartily recommend Lawlor’s Derrida and Husserl to see just where he is coming from.