Introducing Derrida [Paperback]

Jeff Collins (Author), Howard Selina (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2, 2001 | Series: Introducing

Describes the key features of Derrida's writings, explains their controversial effects and shows how Derrida has put them to work in literature, art, architecture and politics.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This book series is part of an alarming trend in higher education?learning through amusement?and an even more alarming new genre?intellectual comic books trafficking as serious learning tools. It is to philosophy what the Classic Comic is to literature and the campaign ad to politics: Cliff Notes meet the sound bite. Short on text and long on large cartoons?emotivism gets 13 lines and four dialog balloons; the Theory of Forms seven lines and two balloons?the texts badly introduce individual thinkers or areas of thought. The sound bite is empty enough when presenting facts, but as a way to get across concepts, positions and arguments, it is self-defeating. These works necessarily emphasize what the thinker thinks, presented informationally, not why or how those conclusions were reached. Thus, even when the texts aren't superficial, the thinkers' claims are utterly obscure. The art work is high quality and witty, and the agenda clearly postmodern?Kant is read as a protodeconstructionist, the universalist enterprise of ethics gets mocked. Thus, their best audience is the opposite of the one intended: not the beginner but the advanced reader of philosophy who can appreciate the fun. At their best, these works belong in Father Guido Sarducci's "Five-Minute College," in which for each course he gives a slogan. At their worst, these books will change remembering a slogan to remembering a picture. Not recommended.?Lee Horvitz, Miami Univ., Middletown, Ohio
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Totem Books; Third Edition edition (November 2, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1840466669
• ISBN-13: 978-1840466669
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #185,191 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good glimpse at Derrida, December 24, 2005

By 

Fletcher D. Mclynne - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Introducing Derrida (Paperback)

There seems to be two kinds of people who read these books: those who see the word "INTRODUCING" in the title, and those who don't. The latter group seems to think that the books in this series are titled "THE COMPLETE, UNABRIDGED WORKS OF (insert philosopher's name)". They miss the point that these books are meant to give average readers a brief glimpse of the subject matter. The reader can then go on to read the ACTUAL writings of the philosophers. I think these books (and DERRIDA in particular) are really great, because they are getting more people interested in philosophy. That said, I found that I got more out of this book after familiarizing myself with other philosophers, since Derrida is a post-modern philosopher, reffering to work done before him. So if you are considering this as your first book in the series, I would suggest familiarizing yourself with Western philosophy over the past 200 years (Kant, German Idealism, Existentialism, Structuralism) and you'll take much more away from Derrida's work.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a good starting point; leaves you wanting to read more, June 27, 2008

By 

Patrick Regan "Patrick Regan" (Northampton, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Introducing Derrida (Paperback)

Introducing Derrida presents the attempts by Derrida to undermine what he viewed as the foundations of Western Philosophy, namely the system of binary oppositions and metaphysics. The system of binary oppositions results in everything in western philosophy boiling down to one of two opposites. For example there is only good or evil. There is only alive or dead. There is only love or hate. In his effort to undermine this system, Derrida introduces "undecidables" which are aspects of the world that do not fit into the system of binary oppositions. For example, the frame of a painting is neither a part of the painting nor a part of the exterior of the painting so it is an undecidable. Metaphysics is the study of what lies beyond the empirically knowable world. Derrida spent his life attempting to derail both. In the process of doing so he introduces "deconstructionism". This is where the book falls down for me. After reading through this section many times I still do not understand deconstructionism very well. I think the authors' approach of representing Derrida's work at a very high level works against them here. I would have liked a more detailed explanation of deconstructionism. I recommend this book with the caveat that you may find yourself needing to read more afterward. In a way though, the purpose of Totem books is to make you interested in doing just that!

17 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Honk if you Hate Metaphysics!, July 27, 2003

By 

James D. Cook "Cormagh" (Encinitas, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Introducing Derrida (Paperback)

I can't believe this book is not more popular! I loved it. It has pictures on every page which really helps keep your attention, at least for the first two-thirds of this 171-page illustrated book. This is difficult stuff, and the authors have done a very good job of introducing, simplifying, and illustrating Jacques Derrida's style and concepts. If you've had some exposure to either the Metaphysicians, Nietzsche, Heidigger or the Existentialists, it'll help. But this straight-forward format makes the new ideas extremely easy to understand. It gave me exactly what I wanted: Information about Derrida's roots, in Structuralism and Phenomenology, plus a springboard to allow me to read Derrida's books without any fear of misunderstanding or misinterpreting his ideas.

After a brief introduction to the core Viruses: Undecidability and Derailed Communication, the authors first use the concept of the Zombie in Hollywood movies to illustrate Derrida's concept of Undecidability, then Plato's Phaedrus to illustrate the concepts of Supplement and Difference which explain the magic, which metaphysics uses to disappear those nasty opposites! Phonocentrism and Logocentrism follow and whoopee! You're already starting to recognize a metaphysical concept coming from halfway down the block if you see one!

Seriously, the book is really THAT good if you like reading Philosophy and you've wanted to learn about Derrida's ideas. It pays attention to all of the important critical philosophers that preceded him, Hume, for example (p.45). After page 100, however, you realize you are reading about individual papers and speeches of his, which are a little bit like seeing advertisements and reading biography rather than seeing parts of the whole picture. You might want to skip through this section to whatever you're interested in. The problem is that Derrida happens to be a bit of a Rennaisance man, and the fact that he has an interest in architecture, or feminism, or people with disabilities is somewhat less interesting for me than what he is doing in Philosophy.