The arrival of Jacques Derrida’s work lit the American intellectual landscape ablaze. For many American academics and critics in the 1970s and thereafter, the charismatic Algerian-born Derrida was the face of “French Theory,” and virtually synonymous with postmodernism itself. With his enigmatic prose and seemingly esoteric approach to language, philosophy, and meaning, Derrida proved not only immensely controversial, but also tremendously influential throughout the American academy.
This course will sample Derrida’s wide-ranging engagements with a variety of thinkers and fields (from Plato to Rousseau, linguistics to psychoanalysis, and beyond) and explore foundational Derridean ideas—including differance, logocentrism, deconstruction and more—while situating Derrida as the key thinker in the transition from structuralism to poststructuralism.
Readings will include seminal essays such as “Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of the human Sciences,” “Differance,” “Freud and the Scene of Writing,” and “Signature, Event, Context,” alongside selections from longer works such as “Plato’s Pharmacy” and Of Gramatology.
Note:
There *is* no physical Brooklyn Institute. We hold our classes all over (thus far) Brooklyn and Manhattan, in alternative spaces ranging from the back rooms of bars to bookstores to spaces in cultural centers, including the Center for Jewish History, the Goethe-Institut, and the Barnard Center for Research on Women. We can (and do) turn any space into a classroom. You will be notified of the exact location when you register for a class.
This course is available for "remote" learning and will be available to anyone with access to an internet device with a microphone (this includes most models of computers, tablets). Classes will take place with a "Live" instructor at the date/times listed below.
Upon registration, the instructor will send along additional information about how to log-on and participate in the class.