World Famous Comics: Introducing Derrida, 3rd Edition (Introducing)
Introducing Derrida, 3rd Edition (Introducing)
By: Jeff Collins Publisher: Totem Books Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Totem Books Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 176 Publication Date: January 25, 2006
Product Description: Describes the key features of Derrida's writings, explains their controversial effects and shows how Derrida has put them to work in literature, art, architecture and politics.
a good starting point; leaves you wanting to read more Introducing Derrida presents the attempts by Derrida to undermine what he viewed as the foundations of Western Philosophy, namely the system of binary oppositions and metaphysics. The system of binary oppositions results in everything in western philosophy boiling down to one of two opposites. For example there is only good or evil. There is only alive or dead. There is only love or hate. In his effort to undermine this system, Derrida introduces "undecidables" which are aspects of the world that do not fit into the system of binary oppositions. For example, the frame of a painting is neither a part of the painting nor a part of the exterior of the painting so it is an undecidable. Metaphysics is the study of what lies beyond the empirically knowable world. Derrida spent his life attempting to derail both. In the process of doing so he introduces "deconstructionism". This is where the book falls down for me. After reading through this section many times I still do not understand deconstructionism very well. I think the authors' approach of representing Derrida's work at a very high level works against them here. I would have liked a more detailed explanation of deconstructionism. I recommend this book with the caveat that you may find yourself needing to read more afterward. In a way though, the purpose of Totem books is to make you interested in doing just that!
Undecidability Derrida is quite an unsettling thinker. It would seem the easiest to characterize him as a philosopher, a literary criticist or, even perhaps an artist. He wants you to be unable to decide pretty much about all the certainties you have. Language is uncertain; art is uncertain. This is accomplished through a series of movements in thought, a serious disturbance of your premises. He manages to do this superbly. He has studied philosophers, painters and writers to further inquire about their premises and, by making them explicit, he has been able to break them.
He will ask you to identify two constant directives in his work:
1) He wants to render certainties and premises weak, no longer absolute. 2) He goes about this like a virus, in the sense that a virus is neither a proper living organism nor a completely dead one. He wants to be pervasive and fatal, and be able to cross boundaries constantly.
He proposed something called deconstruction which can be used as a noun, a verb, an adjective, a concept, a tool, a method, a mode of inquiry; but he would be the first to tell you that it is not exclusively one of those but, perhaps, all of them. It really depends. What do you accomplish with it? To nullify boundaries by making them explicit, to extend semantical domains by inhibiting its predefined -comfortable- ontologies.
I had to read it twice, because the first time I was uncertain if I had achieved full control and understanding of the notions. Read it carefully; it is a great starting point into his rather more complex works. The editors have made an excellent job in keeping consistency and congruence between the graphics in each page and the concepts therein mentioned; they were not gratuituous and they were not simplistic. In the specific case of Derrida, often times a helpful, concrete analogy is needed, even if only a graphic one.
As a previous reviewer mentioned, you will derive the greatest benefit from his ideas by getting acquainted first with Phenomenology and Structuralism and, to some extent, with schools of thought previous to these ones, as he constantly makes reference to them in his works.
Overall, an efficient and simple introduction to a fascinating topic.
A good glimpse at Derrida There seems to be two kinds of people who read these books: those who see the word "INTRODUCING" in the title, and those who don't. The latter group seems to think that the books in this series are titled "THE COMPLETE, UNABRIDGED WORKS OF (insert philosopher's name)". They miss the point that these books are meant to give average readers a brief glimpse of the subject matter. The reader can then go on to read the ACTUAL writings of the philosophers. I think these books (and DERRIDA in particular) are really great, because they are getting more people interested in philosophy. That said, I found that I got more out of this book after familiarizing myself with other philosophers, since Derrida is a post-modern philosopher, reffering to work done before him. So if you are considering this as your first book in the series, I would suggest familiarizing yourself with Western philosophy over the past 200 years (Kant, German Idealism, Existentialism, Structuralism) and you'll take much more away from Derrida's work.
weak This rather impoverished account spends insufficient time with each topic to provide traction for the reader. Apart from the first section the whole thing was a big disappointment.
humbug The book naturally focuses on 'deconstruction' - a nebulous collage that has been rejected even by philosophers - which should clue the public in to how soft the subject really is. Additionally there are production flaws (dark shading in the illustrations obscuring the text) to vex the weary reader.
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