The Legacy of Deconstruction

Great intro: “It is tempting to say that Jacques Derrida's death has been greatly exaggerated. The French philosopher was so closely associated with nihilism and metaphysical absence that it's perhaps worth wondering whether he ever lived at all.”

Great comment on contemporary academic discourse: “Derrida didn't shrink from writing sentences that rambled on for two or three pages and his books were abstruse and convoluted in the extreme. None of this put off his tweedy admirers, who regarded Derrida's density as further proof of his profundity.”

“Tweedy admirers”!

I think it’s significant that while “deconstructionism” is, as M&M say, passé, “to deconstruct” is as popular as ever as a verb. People toiling in fields far from the groves of academia use it without a second thought, as in cooking (see Link 1); I’d half expect to hear it used by a demolition crew taking down an abandoned building. In the common parlance of our times it is now used as a subsitute for “critically assess,” (see Link 2) and now among scholars and journalists with perhaps the added (and assumed) layer of “so thoroughly that there is really no need to continue the discussion.” (see Link 3)

Deconstructing Chinese Food

Deconstructing Jacko

Deconstructing the Democratic Presidential Candidate