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Ecart & Differance: Merleau-Ponty and Derrida on Seeing and Writing

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Martin Dillon and noted contributors (Busch, Ferris, Olkowski, Burke, Lawlor, Madison, Margolis, Gallagher, O'Connor, Mazis, Vallier, Silverman, Flynn, Wurzer) have provided us here with a powerful set of studies aimed at comparing and contrasting two key contemporary "figures" of difference, namely "écart" proposed by Merleau Ponty, and "différence" proposed by Derrida.

In particular, the collection highlights those issues and questions that both Merleau Ponty and Derrida seem to share along the lines of a functional isomorphism between the two notions since both 'designate a non-coincidence of thought with itself', in addition to making a parallel 'divergence of thought with its object' (p.4).

However, functional isomorphism does not imply content isomorphism: if Merleau Ponty and Derrida do seem to be strolling along some same road, there is a departure, at times singular, that the collection equally discusses. Notably, if "écart" seeks to signify distance and decentering within perceptual presence by placing emphasis on the visibility-invisibility play in seeing ... on the 'pre-linguistic' (p. 13), "différence" wants to deny such perceptual presence through temporization and deferral by placing emphasis on (arche)-writing.

Such is the problematic of language and the pre-linguistic "flesh" which are discussed in the first section of the collection. The second section presents developments around the notions of "écart" and "différence" (in addition to "chiasma", "flesh", "identity", "being" to name but a few) in relation with time, literature, art, politics and economics.

Overall, this collection is a unique in that it is the only maybe opportunity that brings close two notions of difference that are not always contrasted and compared. For just this reason, this text is a must - it does, however, require some familiarity with Derrida and Merleau Ponty or with the concerns of the philosophy of difference.