Tackling Derrida - deconstruction in praxis

Prerequisites

Methods and theory course.

Compensations

• 6 cr Department of Political Sciences postgraduate teaching Y610 Methodology and Theory.(From Y610 Chalmers must be examined within six months of taking the course.)
• Students from other departments or universities should make arrangements with their own deparment.

Target group/Course level

Advanced MA students and PhD students.

Objectives

The students will get used to reading and understanding any demanding philosophical and postmodern texts. They will both grasp the deconstructive methodology and its ethics – as envisioned by Jacques Derrida. This is also informs the student of the way in which theory and methodology are interlinked. Furthermore, they will get familiar with the deconstructive methodology, which enables one to grasp the hidden meanings and implications, positions, things which have been carried over and things that are present even in their absence. The course takes the students through Derrida's work from the early to the later phase – and introduces the most influental interpreters of his thought. In the end of the course the students will be able: 1) to read and understand Derrida's work – in it's context and with the most famous interpreters; 2) to tackle an empirical case with deconstructive methodology; 3) to critically reflect on methods and value-systems, behind thinking and action – including their own.

Content

This course in theory and method offers a broad understanding of Derrida's work in its context (his critics, targets and interpreters). It looks at both the early and later work of Derrida. Thereby it outlines the concepts and logic of deconstruction, while also – in the later part – explains its significance and consequences as an ethics.

• Lecture 1: Introduction to Derrida and deconstruction
• Seminar 1: Derrida: 'Signature, Event, Context', in Margins of Philosophy
• Lecture 2: Speech/writing; and deconstructing the classics
• Seminar: Sections from Derrida, Of Grammatology; 'Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences' in Writing and Difference; and Cavell, 'What did Derrida want of Austin' in Philosophical Passages.
• Lecture 3: Différance, constitutive outside, inside/outside, 'other'.
• Seminar 3: 'Différance' in Margins of Philosophy; sections from Of Grammatology.
• Lecture 4: Trace and supplement; presence/absence
• Seminar 4: discussion and application on the basis of the previous readings and empirical cases
• Lecture 5: la brisure, continuity/break, undecidability/decision, 'death of the author'
• Seminar 5: discussion and application on the basis of the previous readings and empirical cases
• Lecture 6: Understanding and ethics: Spivak's strategic essentialism and Gasché's The Tain of the Mirror
• Seminar 6: Relevant sections: Of Grammatology and The Tain of the Mirror, Harvard University Press, 1986.
• Lecture 7: Friend/enemy and hospitality: Politics of Friendship
• Seminar 7: Chapters 3 and 4: 'This Mad Truth: The Just Name of Friendship' and 'The Phantom Friend returning (In the Name of Democracy)', in Derrida's Politics of Friendship, Verso, 1997
• Lecture 8: Deconstruction and Pragmatism
• Lecture 8: Sections from Simon Critchley, Jacques Derrida, Ernesto Laclau and Richard Rorty; ed. Chantal Mouffe, Deconstruction and Pragmatism, Routledge, 1996
• Lecture 9 Derrida on Europe
• Lecture 9: Derrida, The Other Heading: Reflections on Today's Europe, Indiana University Press
• Lecture 10: Rationality and Power
• Seminar 10: Sections from Bent Flyvbjerg: Rationality and Power: Democracy in Practice, The University of Chicago Press, 1998.

Course work and forms of study

Three 1-3 pages abstract/mini-essay (referenced!) on themes or concepts dealt with on the course by 11 May: emilia.palonen@helsinki.fi.

Grading

Based on seminar participation and course-work.

Course results and retake

The results of the course will be posted on the notice board of the Department by XX. If the course work is not accepted or if the student wishes to raise his/her grade, he/she should contact the teacher within one month after the publication of the results and discuss arrangements for rewriting course work.

Course evaluation anddevelopment

During the last session, students will have an opportunity to give feedback on the course to the lecturer and to fill in an anonymous evaluation form. During the course feedback can be given anonymously.

When giving feedback, please evaluate the contribution of the teacher, your own contribution, the contributions of other students and the possible contribution of the Department office to the success of the course.