The Ethics of Deconstruction

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I celebrate this third edition of the classic book on ethics and deconstruction that Critchley published over twenty years ago and which has been widely reread and reviewed both in the English-speaking world and well beyond it. This book was pathbreaking, for it started a whole line of reflection on the possible ethical implications of Derrida's work, that Derrida himself encouraged in his later writings. Critchley's book remains as crucial for the interpretation of deconstruction as it was in its original version and I earnestly encourage a careful reading of its main theses.' Ernesto Laclau, Emeritus Professor, University of Essex 'On its first appearance The Ethics of Deconstruction not only helped to shape the English reception of both Levinas and Derrida, but it also contributed to a reorienting of continental philosophy toward ethical issues. The book was timely when it first appeared and has not lost any of its initial relevance today. In fact with the additional material added to this edition it is now all the more valuable.' Robert Bernasconi, Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Philosophy at Penn State University An expanded edition of the standard work in the field Simon Critchley's The Ethics of Deconstruction, was originally published to great acclaim in 1992. It was his first book and the first to argue for the ethical turn in Derrida's work and to show as powerfully as possible how deconstruction has persuasive ethical consequences that are vital to our thinking through of questions of politics and democracy. Rather than being concerned with deconstruction in terms of the contradictions inherent in any text - an approach typical of the early Derrida and those in literary criticism aiming to extract a critical method for an application to literature - Critchley concerns himself with the philosophical context necessary for an understanding of deconstruction. Far from being some sort of value-free nihilism or textual free-play, Critchley showed the ethical demand that was driving Derrida's work. His claim was that Derrida's understanding of ethics has to be understood in relation to his lifelong engagement with the work of Emmanuel Levinas and the book lays out the fascinating details of their philosophical confrontation. A second expanded edition was published in 1999 by Edinburgh University Press. This third edition contains three new texts, and a new preface where Critchley reflects upon the origins, motivation and reception of The Ethics of Deconstruction. Simon Critchley is Hans Jonas Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research. Cover image and design: [EUP logo] www.euppublishing.com