Access the full text.
Sign up today, get DeepDyve free for 14 days.
Loading next page...
/lp/university-of-north-carolina-press/scatter-2-politics-in-deconstruction-by-geoffrey-bennington-review-5qzSMOo1Kq
- Publisher
- University of North Carolina Press
- Copyright
- Copyright © Copyright © Society for Comparative Literature and the Arts
- ISSN
- 1559-0887
Abstract
Review Essay Geoffrey Bennington, Scatter 2 Politics in Deconstruction New York: Fordham University Press, 2021. 330 pp. In Scatter 2, Geoffrey Bennington cites Derrida’s Specters of Mar : “ xTo be . . . means . . . to inherit” (1). Each of us inherits our parents’ genes and more besides— including, I think, a monolanguage (of the other). But what do philosophers in- herit? The tradition of philosophia , perhaps, and its corresponding Greek mono- language. Philosophers may yet wish to avoid being passive recipients of that tradition and that language, however, and speak in multilingual translation. They might resile from the moniker “philosopher” in the name of a thinking that isn’t (over)determined by whatever the ancient Greeks decided were the chief topics for philosophical contemplation. Yet inasmuch as those Greeks did bequeath phi- losophy such topics, philosophy since them concerns legacies and heritages. One of the topics those philosophical forebears sent to whomever stands in their lin- eage is that of politics. Consider, therefore, the initially Western history of philoso- phy’s engagement with politics and, moreover, the vexed matter of democracy. It’s a history afflicted by almost endemic unease: politics is a risky, untidy topic for philosophy.
Journal
The Comparatist – University of North Carolina Press
Published: Nov 11, 2021