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
eye spirit tradition
Deconstruction never had meaning or interest, at least in my eyes, than as a radicalization, that is to say, also within the tradition of a certain Marxism , in a certain spirit of Marxism .
eye writing self
I would like to write you so simply, so simply, so simply. Without having anything ever catch the eye, excepting yours alone, ... so that above all the language remains self-evidently secret, as if it were being invented at every step, and as if it were burning immediately
eye essence sight
The blindness that opens the eye is not the one that darkens vision. Tears and not sight are the essence of the eye.
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.
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.
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.
determination lexicon etc
A determination or an effect within a system which is no longer that of a presence but of a diffrance, a system that no longer tolerates the opposition of activity and passivity, nor that of cause and effect, or of indetermination and determination, etc., such that in designating consciousness as an effect or a determination, one continues - for strategic reasons that can be more or less lucidly deliberated and systematically calculated - to operate according to the lexicon of that which one is de-limiting.
love-life language i-love-life
I love language as I love life itself!
writing secret facts
No one will ever know from what secret I am writing and the fact that I say so changes nothing.