Derrida contra Habermas

Abstract

In this dissertation, my aim will be to defend Derrida against Habermas’criticisms which are made in his book, The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity (1985), more specifically his chapters entitled, Beyond a Temporalised Philosophy of Origins: Jacques Derrida’s Critique of Phonocentrism, and Excursus On Levelling the Genre Distinction between Philosophy and Literature. I start by examining Habermas’ second chapter in which he accuses Derrida of levelling four genre distinctions, namely; philosophy and literature, rhetoric and logic, normal and abnormal language use and the world disclosing and problem solving functions of language. Amongst the many arguments which I put forward, I have argued that a common element in every criticism seems to be that Derrida undermines rational discourse in favour of a literary style of writing and a concern for meaningless and marginal concepts in philosophy. I also argue against a criticism put forward in Habermas’ first chapter on Derrida in which he argues that Derrida is influenced by Jewish mysticism. He argues that the ‘a’ in différance is akin to the aleph in Jewish theology, it is known as the only part of the commandments which the Hebrew people heard, everything else was left to interpretation. As I will explain, différance is a concept which contains spatiality and temporality because it refers to difference and deferral simultaneously. By way of examining Derrida’s texts, I will show that Habermas’ claims seem to stem from what has been written about Derrida by his American followers, and in so doing, he has failed to understand him altogether.