Synopses & Reviews
Written in the aftermath of the fall of the Berlin Wall and within the context of a critique of a new world order that proclaims the death of Marx and Marxism, Jacques Derrida undertakes a reading of Marx's spectropoetics -- his obsession with ghosts, specters and spirits. Derrida argues that there is more than one spirit of Marx and that it is the responsibility of his heirs -- we are all heirs of Marx -- to sift through the possible legacies, the possible spirits, reaffirming one and not the other. He leads beyond the deafening disavowal of Marx today, a disavowal he sees as an attempt to exorcise Marx's ghost.
Specters of Marx represents renowned philosopher Jacques Derrida's first major work on Marx and his definitive entry into social and political philosophy.
Synopsis
This major new book from a renowned French philosopher represents his first important statement on Marx. Within the context of a critique of the new dogmatism and "new world order" that have proclaimed the death of Marxism, Derrida explores the seemingly haunted language used in Marx's The Manifesto of the Communist Party.
Synopsis
Prodigiously influential, Jacques Derrida gave rise to a comprehensive rethinking of the basic concepts and categories of Western philosophy in the latter part of the twentieth century, with writings central to our understanding of language, meaning, identity, ethics and values.
In 1993, a conference was organized around the question, 'Whither Marxism, and Derrida was invited to open the proceedings. His plenary address, 'Specters of Marx', delivered in two parts, forms the basis of this book. Hotly debated when it was first published, a rapidly changing world and world politics have scarcely dented the relevance of this book.