Inne życia. Polityka i etyka żałoby w pismach Jacques'a Derridy
Other lives. The politics and ethics of mourning in the writings of Jacques Derrida

Author(s): Aleksander Kopka
Subject(s): Philosophy, Ethics / Practical Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Structuralism and Post-Structuralism
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: mourning; ethics of mourning; politics of mourning; Jacques Derrida; deconstruction; democracy
Summary/Abstract: This monograph is devoted to the problem of mourning in the writings of Jacques Derrida and is based on a premise that mourning offers a unique and crucial access to the political and ethical dimension of his thought. Moreover, it conditions any ethics and politics whatsoever. In order to show the legitimacy of this thesis, the monograph reconstructs the way of thought originating in Derrida's early texts and exposes the source contamination of life by death, and consequently leads to deconstruction of metaphysical assumptions regarding the concept of singular and communal life in ethical and political discourses. The issue of mourning, therefore, provokes a more in-depth thinking about politics and ethics, which is based on a call for radical and unlimited responsibility for the mortal and singular other, and at the same time inspires to change not only the language of politics determined by ontotheology but also the political praxis itself. Therefore, the monograph unveils the necessary relationship between the thought of mourning and key political concepts (such as justice, hospitality, democracy, autoimmunity), the hyperbolic nature of which Derrida affirms in his writings.

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