“Derrida in 90 Minutes” by Paul Strathern is a introduction to philosophy of French philosopher Jaques Derrida.
The main content “Derrida’s Life and Works” describes Derrida’s biography with his thought and philosophy. Strathern comments on forming and content of Derrida’s philosophy along with his career and his philosophical, political and cultural background. Author describes how Derrida’s philosophy was influenced and affected political affairs and Western philosophy and thought. This book is a very very short history of philosophy related to Derrida, from platonism, rationalism, idealism and empiricism, to phenomenology, existentialism, psychology, structuralism and philosophy of language. As for philosophers, Plato, Descartes and Hume, to Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, Freud, Roland Barthes and Wittgenstein.
The good point of this book is description of difference to structuralism and Roland Barthes. Derrida thought like this, Barthes’ argument of “death of the author” told there is no self-evidence truth by the author, but the theory made by hidden assumptions of bourgeois values. Structuralism criticized theory of idealism, humanism and intellectualism by meta-analysis, but the theory made of a positivism of analyzer, humanism and intellectualism. Then structuralism became a kind of humanism or intellectualism, and formed a “aporia” and fixed and ideal theory. Beyond structuralism, Derrida and post-structuralism attacked, destroyed and escaped from “presence”, “aporia”, basis and constructions of Western philosophy, thought and their statements themselves.
But in this book, there’s no detailed comment and criticism for Derrida’s theory. His theory is ambiguous but profound. So this book is just a introduction to philosophy of Derrida and post-structuralism.
Derrida in 90 Minutes (Philosophers in 90 Minutes Series)
Paul Strathern
Ivan R. Dee, Chicago, 1 November 2000
99 pages $7.95
ISBN: 978-1-56663-329-1
Contents:
Introduction
Derrida’s Life and Works
Derrida: Mixed Quotes and Mixed Reviews
Chronology of Significant Philosophical Dates
Chronology of Derrida’s Life and Times
Recommended Reading
Index