Dialogue and Deconstruction by Diane P Michelfelder

Dialogue and Deconstruction by Diane P Michelfelder

Text of and reflection on the 1981 encounter between Hans-Georg Gadamer and Jacques Derrida, which featured a dialogue between hermeneutics in Germany and post-structuralism in France.

Before the encounter in 1981 between Hans-Georg Gadamer and Jacques Derrida, there had been virtually no confrontation or dialogue between hermeneutics in Germany and post-structuralism in France, nor has there been since then. Part I of this book makes available for the first time in English the complete texts of the encounter at the Goethe Institute in Paris. This exchange raised such issues as Gadamer's relation to psychoanalytic interpretation, the questionability of texts, Heidegger's reading of Nietzsche, and the dialogical aspect of language.

Part II offers further reflections by Gadamer on the encounter itself and its relation of hermeneutics to deconstruction. Among the issues covered are Derrida's interpretation of "Destruktion" in Heidegger, Derrida's attack on logocentrism in Heidegger's interpretation of Nietzsche, and the relation of Heidegger, hermeneutics, and deconstruction to dialectic.

Part III offers commentaries on the encounter from a variety of perspectives. The authors assess the original encounter as well as Gadamer's subsequent reflections on it.

"A showcase of Gadamer at his hermeneutical best … a vibrant volume which offers intriguing interpretations of such German authors as Goethe, Hölderlin, and RilkeThis will be a popular book with philosophers for some time to come." — www.wordtrade.com

"It is important particularly for understanding some of the less obvious links and tensions between Derrida and contemporary German philosophy. It also reveals some fascinating subtleties in Gadamer's own thought." — Rebecca Comay, University of Toronto

Diane P. Michelfelder is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the California Polytechnic State University. Richard E. Palmer is Professor of Philosophy at MacMurray College.