Derrida on 9/11:
Giving Bullshit a Bad Name
Leiter's right on the money here. I, too, find myself not agreeing with Habermas philosophically, but I respect the guy. He's a serious thinker. Derrida, on the other hand (to quote Leiter quoting Searle) writes the kind of stuff that gives bullshit a bad name.
Oh man why'd you have to do that Winston. I felt like I had to take a shower after reading that Derrida stuff.
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree that Habermas seems like a relatively rational guy.
Quotes such as those make me almost sure of the following:
ReplyDeleteEither:
(a) Derrida is punking us. Or
(b) He is actually, seriously, mentally ill.
The men's room in Emerson many years ago had a graffito: Who dares cavil with Cavell?
ReplyDeleteWho dares deride Derrida?
Well...
In his radical critique of the possibility of language, Derrida says,
[W]e do not know what we are talking about.
Speak for yourself!
The principle of charity requires me to offer the possibility that Derrida is a performance artist who is simply attempting an instance disproof of Wittgenstein on private language. (Though I readily admit I know nothing of substance about that...)
He really just sounds like a parody of himself.
ReplyDelete