Cited: Derrida on Anthropological Prejudice in Austin and Husserl

Abstract

I read Derrida’s “Signature Event Context” as an extension of his programmatic anti-anthropologism as expressed, for example, in “The Ends of Man.” I argue that Derrida’s deconstruction of the serious-non-serious opposition in SEC and of the failure-success opposition, and his attempt to save “green is or” from Husserl’s dismissal, is problematic, and that this throws into focus the limits of Derrida’s extreme anti-anthropologism. While Derrida’s criticism of Austin’s exclusion holds, Dethda identifies citationality and failure too closely. He does not consider other ways (than through intention) to defend the serious-non-serious opposition. I show that a defence of this opposition is available, which does not run afoul of the citational theory of language offered in SEC, but that does require more anthropologism than Derrida is willing to endorse. Derrida’s emphasis on citationality would therefore not require an anti-anthropologism as radical as Derrida’s in order to hold on to this criticism of Austin. The anti-anthropologism of SEC attempts, I argue, to judge the context of the anthropological from within the context of the “grammatological,” while the latter is premised on a break with the former. This provides a general characterisation of what makes the aforementioned deconstructions problematic.