Political Foundations in Derrida's Work on Education

Samir Haddad (Fordham University)

Many commentators refer to Derrida’s activism in and writings on education as evidence of his long-standing engagement with political questions and issues. But much less frequent is to demonstrate the precise ways in which these writings are political, and their specific relation to Derrida's later work. In this paper I undertake this task by examining the development of the notion of political foundation across Derrida's work on education. I show that this notion is more richly developed here than elsewhere in Derrida's oeuvre, and argue that it makes explicit certain features and limitations of his later understanding of democracy to come.

Samir Haddad is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Fordham University. He is the author of Derrida and the Inheritance of Democracy (Indiana UP, 2013), and has published articles in Derrida Today, Diacritics, Philosophy Today, and The International Journal of Philosophical Studies, among other outlets. His research interests include twentieth century continental philosophy, contemporary French philosophy, deconstruction, and democratic theory.

 
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