Jacques Derrida
Jacques Derrida
Jacques Derridawas a French philosopher, born in Algeria. Derrida is best known for developing a form of semiotic analysis known as deconstruction, which he discussed in numerous texts, and developed in the context of phenomenology. He is one of the major figures associated with post-structuralism and postmodern philosophy...
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth15 July 1930
believe book fighting
I believe in the value of the book, which keeps something irreplaceable, and in the necessity of fighting to secure its respect.
believe writing thinking
I do not believe in pure idioms. I think there is naturally a desire, for whoever speaks or writes, to sign in an idiomatic, irreplaceable manner.
believe names echoes
My most resolute opponents believe that I am too visible, that I am a little too alive, that my name echoes too much in the texts which they nevertheless claim to be inaccessible.
believe ideas differences
As soon as we cease to believe in such an engineer and in a discourse which breaks with the received historical discourse, and as soon as we admit that every finite discourse is bound by a certain bricolage and that the engineer and the scientist are also species of bricoleurs , then the very idea of bricolage is menaced and the difference in which it took on its meaning breaks down.
believe objectivity conventions
What is called "objectivity," scientific for instance (in which I firmly believe, in a given situation) imposes itself only within a context which is extremely vast, old, firmly established, or rooted in a network of conventions ... and yet which still remains a context.
believe perception desire
Contrary to what phenomenology- which is always phenomenology of perception- has tried to make us believe, contrary to what our desire cannot fail to be tempted into believing, the thing itself always escapes.
accused believe economy engaged french-philosopher writer
I believe it is always a writer who is accused of being someone who is engaged in an explanation with language, the economy of language.
entered french-philosopher generality soon
As soon as there is language, generality has entered the scen.
caring names awakening
Such a caring for death, an awakening that keeps vigil over death, a conscience that looks death in the face, is another name for freedom.
atheist
I rightly pass for an atheist.
football
Beyond the touchline there is nothing.
solitude speak given
We are given over to absolute solitude. No one can speak with us and no one can speak for us; we must take it upon ourselves, each of us must take it upon himself.
There is nothing outside of the text. [Fr., Il n'y a pas de hors-texte.]
law games forever
A text is not a text unless it hides from the first comer, from the first glance, the law of its composition and the rules of its game. A text remains, moreover, forever imperceptible. Its laws and rules are not, however, harbored in the inaccessibility of a secret; it is simply that they can never be booked, in the present, into anything that could rigorously be called a perception.