An Examination of Deconstruction as Applied to the Political in Jacques Derrida's The Politics of Friendship

Lauren Keenan

Date of Award

2008

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Flakne, April

Keywords

Derrida, Jacques, Differance, Schmitt, Carl

Area of Concentration

Philosophy

Abstract

This thesis aims to be a study of Jacques Derrida�s political thought, focusing on the importance of how the concepts of identity and decision function when seen through a deconstructive lens as well as of the place (if any) that deconstructive lens has in the political sphere. Through a re-examination of the geneaology of friendship from a deconstructive perspective, Derrida examines finds that the relation of friendship, one which is always supposed to be a relationship with an "other", to paradoxically be a relation favoring sameness in it�s attempts to preserve the identity of each friend. This preoccupation with preservation of identity is comparable to the conservation of presence he finds in many of his other deconstructive projects, and has a connection to the structure of decision making itself. Derrida notes that traditional conceptions of friendship do not actually take into account the otherness of the other, but rather relegate the other to instances of what we can understand as other, and more over, instances of similarity to self. This deconstructive inquiry into the structures surrounding identity and friendship gains a political import through its ability to define proximity through defining friendship, brotherhood, and citizenship.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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