Radical Atheism: Derrida and the Time of Life (Meridian: Crossing Aesthetics)

272 Pages·2008·2.62 MB·English

by  Martin Hagglund

radical atheism

MER IDI AN
Crossing Aesthetics
Werner Hamacher
Editor
Stanford
University
Press
Stanford
California
2008
RADICAL ATH EISM
Derrida and the Time ofL ife
Martin Hagglund
Stanford University Press
Scanford, California
© 2008 by rhe Board ofTrusrees of rhe Leland Sranford
Junior University. All rights reserved.
No parr of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage
or retrieval syscem withour rhe prior wrinen permission of
Stanford University Press.
Primed in (he Voiced Scates of Americ.1.
on acid· free, archival.qualiry paper
Library of Congress Caraloging.in.Publication Data
Hagglund, Martin.
Radical :teheism : Derrida and the rime of life I
Marrin Hagglund.
p. cm.-(Meridian, crossing aeSlhctics)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8047-0077-1 (cloth, alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-8047-0078-8 (pbk. ,alk. paper)
1. Derrida, Jacques-Religion. 2. Acheism.
3. Deconsrruction. 4· Philosophy and religion.
I. Title. II. Serics, Meridian (Stanford, Calif.)
B24Jo.D484Hn 2008
2U' .8092-OC2 2
2008016110
COl1[ems
Acknowledgments ix
lntroduction
§ 1 Autoimmunity of Time: Derrid, ,nd Kmt 13
§2 Arche-Wriring: Derrid:t ~nd Husserl 50
§3 Arche-Violence: Derrida and Levin:ls 76
§4 Autoimmunity of Life:
Derridas R:.dic,! Atheism 107
§5 Autoimmunity of Democracy:
Derrid, ,nd bcbu 164
Notes 207
w"rks Cited 237
Index 219

Acknowledgments
First of all, I want to thank Jonathan Culler and Richard Klein for their
generous support and their insightful comments on the manuscript. I also
want to thank Rodolphe Gasché and Ernesto Laclau for their responses
to my work and their inspiring philosophical vigilance. My personal and
intellectual friendship with David E. Johnson has been vital throughout
the writing of this book. I also want to extend my profound gratitude to
William Egginton and to all the other participants in our Philosophical
Reading Group, for the singular intellectual energy that was channeled
during our meetings.
I owe a special debt to the Swedish essayist Horace Engdahl, not only
for the encouragement he has provided over the years but also for the
integrity of style he has displayed as a writer. Reading Engdahl’s essays
taught me to always strive for clarity and to philosophize with the ham-
mer. At various stages of the manuscript, I received valuable comments
from Philip Adamek, Peter Gilgen, Anders Lundberg, Douglas McQueen-
Thomson, and Jessica Smith. I am also grateful to Alberto Moreiras and
Dan W. Smith for productive disagreements, and to Samir Haddad for
stimulating discussions of the notion of ‘lesser violence’ in Derrida’s
thought. At the last stages of writing, I benefited from the personal gen-
erosity and intellectual inspiration of my friends in the Theory Reading
Group at Cornell. A particular gratitude is due to my friend Niklas Bris-
mar Pålsson, with whom I have shared matters of life and philosophy for
more than ten years. Finally, I want to thank my parents and my sisters
for always being there and for giving me more than I can comprehend.
ix