But he still thought that deconstruction is not demolition or destruction because it is not about destroying ideas or concepts, but rather pointing out their limits, margins, and vulnerability. Deconstruction is a way of reminding the other and reminding me, myself, of the limits of power, of mastery. But why is this so important? Among many reasons, and probably the one that most irritated analytical philosophers, was that deconstruction undermined the authority of educational institutions. If Derrida, as he often said, was at war with institutions, its not because he wished to destroy them but rather because he wanted to recall how they could never be as authoritative as they seemed. This is why he was so interested in the margins of philosophy or institutional edges, that is, those places where counter-institutions could arise. The irony, as he once explained, is that the institution par excellence, the state, convinced that there is no absolute exteriority which can make any objection or form any opposition to it, always ends up recognising counter-institutions.
Posted on: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 17:47:54 +0000
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