Derrida and Husserl: The Basic Problem of Phenomenology

"[A] magnificent work... that will definitely shape the discussion on Derrida for years to come." --Rodolphe Gasché

What is the nature of the relationship of Jacques Derrida and deconstruction to Edmund Husserl and phenomenology? Is deconstruction a radical departure from phenomenology or does it trace its origins to the phenomenological project? In Derrida and Husserl, Leonard Lawlor illuminates Husserl's influence on the French philosophical tradition that inspired Derrida's thought. Beginning with Eugen Fink's pivotal essay on Husserl's philosophy, Lawlor carefully reconstructs the conceptual context in which Derrida developed his interpretation of Husserl. Lawlor's investigations of the work of Jean Cavaillès, Tran-Duc-Thao, and Jean Hyppolite, as well as recent texts by Derrida, reveal the depth of Derrida's relationship to Husserl's phenomenology. Along the way, Lawlor revisits and sheds light on the origin of many important Derridean concepts, such as deconstruction, the metaphysics of presence, différance, intentionality, the trace, and spectrality.

"This is the strongest of all Lawlor's writings on Derrida to date." --Husserl Studies Indiana University Press Indiana University Press Indiana University Press

Leonard Lawlor is Dunavant Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of Memphis. He is author of Imagination and Chance: The Difference between the Thought of Ricoeur and Derrida and co-editor (with Fred Evans) of Chiasms: Merleau-Ponty's Notion of the Flesh. He is a founding editor of the journal Chiasmi International: Trilingual Studies Concerning the Thought of Merleau-Ponty.

Preliminary Table of Contents:

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

The Original Motivation: Defend the Derridean Faith

Part 1. Phenomenology and Ontology

1. Genesis as the Basic Problem of Phenomenology

2. The Critique of Phenomenology: An Investigation of "'Genesis and Structure' and Phenomenology"

3. The Critique of Ontology: An Investigation of "The Ends of Man"

Part 2. The "Originary Dialectic" of Phenomenology and Ontology

4. Upping the Ante on Dialectic: An Investigation of Le Problème de la genèse dans la philosophie de Husserl

5. The Root, that is Necessarily One, of Every Dilemma: An Investigation of The Introduction to Husserl's The Origin of Geometry

Part 3. The End of Phenomenology and Ontology

6. More Metaphysical than Metaphysics: An Investigation of "Violence and Metaphysics"

7. The Test of the Sign: An Investigation Voice and Phenomenon

Part 4. The Turn in Derrida

8. Looking for Noon at Two O'Clock: An Investigation of Specters of Marx

The Final Idea: Memory and Life

Bibliography

Index