Reading Derrida and Ricoeur: Improbable Encounters Between Deconstruction and Hermeneutics

242 Pages·2010·0.808 MB·English

by  Eftichis Pirovolakis

eftichis pirovolakis
Reading Derrida & Ricoeur
improbable encounters between
deconstruction and hermeneutics

Reading Derrida and Ricoeur
SUNY series: Insinuations: Philosophy, Psychoanalysis, Literature
—————
Charles Shepherdson, editor
Reading Derrida and Ricoeur
Improbable Encounters between
Deconstruction and Hermeneutics
Eftichis Pirovolakis
“The Word: Giving, Naming, Calling” by Jacques Derrida was originally published
in French as: “La parole: Donner, nommer, appeler,” in Paul Ricoeur, ed. Myriam
Revault d’Allones and François Azouvi, L’Herne, no. 81 (Paris: Éditions de L’Herne,
2004) 19–25, Copyright © 2004 Éditions de L’Herne. It is reproduced here with
permission by Éditions de L’Herne and Marguerite Derrida. English translation
© 2010 Eftichis Pirovolakis.
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2010 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever
without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or
transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic
tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in
writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Production by Eileen Meehan
Marketing by Anne M. Valentine
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Pirovolakis, Eftichis, 1970–
Reading Derrida and Ricoeur : improbable encounters between deconstruction and
hermeneutics / Eftichis Pirovolakis.
p. cm. — (SUNY series, insinuations: philosophy, psychoanalysis, literature)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4384-2949-6 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Deconstruction. 2. Derrida, Jacques—Criticism and interpretation. 3. Ricœur,
Paul—Criticism and interpretation. 4. Phenomenology and literature.
5. Hermeneutics. 6. Literature—Philosophy. 7. Criticism—History—20th century.
I. Title.
PN98.D43P57 2010
801'.95—dc22 2009014349
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Antony and Cleopatra

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Abbreviations xi
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 Ricoeur on Husserl and Freud: From a Perceptual
to a Refl ective Present 13
Ricoeur Reading Husserl: The Thick Present and Continuity 14
Freud’s Quantitative Hypothesis and Unconscious Autonomy 25
From a Perceptual to a Refl ective Present 31
Chapter 2 Derrida and Rhythmic Discontinuity 43
Husserl’s Aporia: Discontinuity and Repetition 44
The Necessary Possibility of Difference and
Syncopated Temporality 52
Freud: Permeability and Impermeability, Life and Death 58
First Inscription and Nachträglichkeit 67
Scriptural Metaphorics 73
Chapter 3 Ricoeur’s Hermeneutics of the Self 83
The Singularity of the Speaking Subject 84
Idem and Ipse: From Narrative Identity to the Ethical Self 91
Benevolent Selfhood 97
Oneself as Another 103
Concluding Remarks 111
Chapter 4 Secret Singularities 119
Spacing, Iterability, Signatures 120
Secrets of Speech 130
Originary Mourning: In Memory of the Absolutely Other 138
An Unexperienced Experience: The Absolute Arrivant 144
Expropriation 155
viii Contents
Conclusion 161
Appendix: “The Word: Giving, Naming, Calling,” by Jacques Derrida 167
Notes 177
Bibliography 207
Index 219