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Derrida's Social Ontology

Institutions in Deconstruction

  • Book
  • © 2023

Overview

Authors:
  1. Ryan A. Gustafson

    1. The New School, New York, USA

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  • Provides an accessible introduction to Derrida's social and political thought

  • Studies Derrida's writings on institutions from a philosophical perspective

  • Models how deconstruction can be useful for social criticism broadly construed

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Table of contents (5 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-ix
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  2. Introduction

    • Ryan A. Gustafson
    Pages 1-27

  3. Of Historicity: The Theme of Deconstruction (1962–1967)

    • Ryan A. Gustafson
    Pages 29-71

  4. Of Declarations, Signatures, and Titles: Derrida on the Historicity of Institutions (1971–1986)

    • Ryan A. Gustafson
    Pages 73-117

  5. Of Force & Right: Questions of Responsibility in the Later Derrida (1989–2004)

    • Ryan A. Gustafson
    Pages 119-178

  6. Of Lies: A Concluding Post-Script

    • Ryan A. Gustafson
    Pages 179-186

  7. Back Matter

    Pages 187-192
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Keywords

About this book

Derrida's Social Ontology: Institutions in Deconstruction presents the first dedicated study of Jacques Derrida’s philosophy of institutions. While previous studies of Derrida’s thought have considered his engagement with individual institutions—from the university to literature, law, and psychoanalysis, among others—Derrida’s Social Ontology offers the first attempt to reconstruct and defend the philosophical theory of institutions that underlies these engagements. In so doing, the book argues that the theme of “the institution” in Derrida's oeuvre offers the best throughline for understanding the substantively normative significance of deconstruction as a philosophical practice, arguing that Derrida is unique among so-called “postmodern” thinkers in providing an account of the relationship between the historically contingent character of institutions and the normative entitlements that such entities make possible. Specifically, the book shows how Derrida accounts for this relationship in a way that leaves room for a notion of “unconditional responsibility” for the social and political world to the extent that the latter is structured by perfectible institutions. In tracing the development of Derrida’s account of this link between the historicity and normativity of institutional life—from his early writings on the historicity of the institution of philosophy, to his later critiques of practices of institutional cruelty like the death penalty—Derrida's Social Ontology not only offers readers a new framework for making sense of the normative commitments that defined this philosopher's writings, but will also establish the terms for putting his works into conversation with contemporary debates in social and political philosophy and critical theory more broadly.

Reviews

“This is a brilliantly original take on Derrida and deconstruction by a major new philosophical talent. I urge everyone with an interest in the ongoing relevance of deconstruction particularly for our institutional lives to study this book closely.” (Simon Critchley, Hans Jonas Professor of Philosophy, The New School for Social Research, New York City)

“Ryan Gustafson offers a meticulous reading of Derrida’s oeuvre with a much-needed intervention: to situate deconstruction as a philosophical practice with political concerns, as opposed to constituting merely a method of reading. Gustafson makes a significant contribution to contemporary political philosophy as his book offers a novel interpretation of Derrida’s idea that the institution was one of deconstruction’s central problems. This manuscript let us see that the institution was for Derrida a socio-historical performative practice of violence that needed to be deconstructed. Gustafson is careful to lay out Derrida’s paradoxical development, in which deconstruction is at the same time and space an institutional practice and also its critique.” (Rosaura Martínez Ruiz, Full Professor of Philosophy, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)s)

Authors and Affiliations

  • The New School, New York, USA

    Ryan A. Gustafson

About the author

Ryan A. Gustafson, PhD, teaches at Eugene Lang College at The New School in New York City. His writings on Derrida have appeared in The Undecidable Unconscious: A Journal in Psychoanalysis and Deconstruction and Derrida Today.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Derrida's Social Ontology

  • Book Subtitle: Institutions in Deconstruction

  • Authors: Ryan A. Gustafson

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-41494-7

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Religion and Philosophy, Philosophy and Religion (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-41493-0Published: 02 December 2023

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-41496-1Due: 16 December 2024

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-41494-7Published: 01 December 2023

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: IX, 192

  • Topics: Continental Philosophy, Political Philosophy, History of Philosophy

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