''Writing and Difference'' () is a book by the French philosopher

Jacques Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida;Peeters (2013), pp. 12–13. See also 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was a French Algerian philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in a number of his texts, ...

. The work, which collects some of the early lectures and essays that established his fame, was published in 1967 alongside ''

Of Grammatology ''Of Grammatology'' () is a 1967 book by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida. The book, originating the idea of deconstruction, proposes that throughout continental philosophy, especially as philosophers engaged with linguistic and semiotic id ...

'' and '' Speech and Phenomena''.

Summary

Cogito and the History of Madness

The collection contains the essay ''Cogito and the History of Madness'', a critique of

Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault ( , ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French History of ideas, historian of ideas and Philosophy, philosopher who was also an author, Literary criticism, literary critic, Activism, political activist, and teacher. Fo ...

. It was first given as a lecture on March 4, 1963, at a conference at the '' Collège philosophique'', which Foucault attended, and caused a rift between the two,Powell (2006), pp. 34–5 possibly prompting Foucault to write ''

The Order of Things ''The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences'' (''Les Mots et les Choses: Une archéologie des sciences humaines'') is a book by French philosopher Michel Foucault. It proposes that every historical period has underlying epistemi ...

'' (1966) and '' The Archaeology of Knowledge'' (1969).Carlo Ginzburg (1976), ''Il formaggio e i vermi'', translated in 1980 as
The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller
', trans. Anne Tedeschi (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press), xviii.

Violence and Metaphysics

In "Violence and Metaphysics," Derrida comments on the writings of

Emmanuel Levinas Emmanuel Levinas (born Emanuelis Levinas ; ; 12 January 1906 – 25 December 1995) was a French philosopher of Lithuanian Jewish ancestry who is known for his work within Jewish philosophy, existentialism, and phenomenology, focusing on the rel ...

. He honors Levinas for his ethical philosophy of openness to the Other. Indeed, he goes along with the idea that to live for the Other is the highest good. But he challenges the idea that only

face-to-face interaction Human communication, or anthroposemiotics, is a field of study dedicated to understanding how humans communicate. Humans' ability to communicate with one another would not be possible without an understanding of what we are referencing or think ...

can be ethical. Whereas Levinas sees written communication as dead and unresponsive, Derrida argues that writing can be just as valuable a space for ethical encounter. He writes, in characteristic support for writing: "Is it not possible to invert all of Levinas’s statements on this point? By showing, for example, that writing can assist itself, for it has time and freedom, escaping better than speech from empirical urgencies."''Writing and Difference'', 102

The Structuralist Controversy

Included in the collection is his 1966 lecture at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

, which changed the course of the conference leading it to be renamed ''The Structuralist Controversy'', and caused Derrida to receive his first major attention outside France. The lecture is titled ''

Structure, Sign, and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences "Structure, Sign, and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences" () was a lecture presented at Johns Hopkins University on 21 October 1966 by philosopher Jacques Derrida. The lecture was then published in 1967 as chapter ten of ''Writing and Diff ...

''.

References

{{Jacques Derrida 1967 non-fiction books Éditions du Seuil books French non-fiction books Works by Jacques Derrida Iran's Book of the Year