SYLLABUS-IN-PROGRESS RS 787 - SELECTED ISSUES IN PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION (Fall 2002) The Philosophy of Jacques Derrida
Visit the on-line Discussion Forum for this course at webct.mcmaster.ca:8900 Students in the course should log on using their Mac e-mail ID + Student Number; guests can log on using "studentrst787" + "guest787" Resources and Links	updated November 11, 2002

This syllabus is posted at http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/danahol/787 and can also be accessed by way of my home page http://univmail.cis.mcmaster.ca/~danahol.  (You can also reach these pages by way of the Religious Studies Department website.)  It will be updated periodically. Please be sure to consult it regularly during the semester, as it will be subject to change from week to week.

Course Description / Course Requirements / Schedule

Course Description

This advanced seminar provides an in-depth introduction to one of the most influential "Continental" philosophers of our time.

In the first half of the course, we will study Derrida's early analyses of Edmund Husserl's theories of history and language, his presentation of "deconstruction" as a theory of language, and his early reception of the philosophy of Martin Heidegger.

The second half of the course will be devoted to more recent essays on ethico-political and religious themes.

Course Readings

There is usually more than one way to obtain each reading on this syllabus; these are/will be indicated for each title.

A book order for this class has been placed with Titles, and there are also items on reserve at Mills Library. Check on the status of a title via the MORRIS online catalogue, or look up the reserve list for the class at one of the MORRIS stations in the library. 

I am putting on reserve any German and French originals owned by the library of the works we are reading--let me know if there is something I have left out. If there is a title you are looking for that is not owned by the library, please order it via Interlibrary Loan and let me know when you receive it, in case other students also want to have a look at it.  I would be happy to assist you in locating particular texts.

In addition, master copies of shorter texts we are reading will be made available in the Religious Studies Department office (UH 104), to use for making personal copies.

Course Requirements

• Regular attendance, careful preparation of readings, and participation in class discussion (including in the on-line discussion forum via WebCT - details to follow).
• Short paper on a topic relating to readings in the first half of the class.
• An in-class presentation on one or more of the readings (detailed instructions to follow)
• A paper (15-20 pages) on a topic chosen in consultation with me.

September 9 - ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING

September 16

DERRIDA'S INTELLECTUAL BIOGRAPHY

• Geoffrey Bennington, biographical overview in Bennington/Derrida, Jacques Derrida [book available for purchase/on reserve/master copy in office]
• "The Time of a Thesis: Punctuations" (1980) (from Philosophy in France Today, ed. Montefiore) [book on reserve, master copy in office]
• "Letter to a Japanese Friend" (1983) in Kamuf (ed.), A Derrida Reader. Between the Blinds [book on reserve/master copy in office]
• "Hospitality, Justice and Responsibility. A Dialogue with Jacques Derrida" from Questioning Ethics. Debates in Contemporary Philosophy, ed. R. Kearney/M. Dooley (Routledge, 1999) [book ordered for reserve/master copy in office] 

Supplementary: Sur parole. Instantanés philosophiques (1999): "De la phénoménologie" [master copy in office]

film screening: Jacques Derrida (Channel 4, 1992)

September 23

"DECONSTRUCTION" AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE

• "Signature Event Context" (1971) in Margins of Philosophy [purchase book/book on reserve]
• consult relevant passages in Austin, How To Do Things With Words (1955) and/or read up on "Performative Utterances," in Philosophical Papers [books on reserve; master copy of article in office]

Supplementary: Simon Glendinning, "Inheriting 'Philosophy': The Case of Austin and Derrida Revisited" from Arguing with Derrida, ed. Glendinning (2001) [book on reserve; master copy of article in office]

Presentation - Colin Koopman

PHENOMENOLOGY: HISTORY AND LANGUAGE

September 30

• Edmund Husserl, "Philosophy as a Rigorous Science" (1911), trans. Quentin Lauer, in Phenomenology and the Crisis of Philosophy, esp. pp. 71-129 [book on reserve as of 9/25/02 / master copy in dept office]
• Edmund Husserl, "The Origin of Geometry" (1936) in Edmund Husserl's "Origin of Geometry" [purchase book/book on reserve] and §9a of the Crisis of European Sciences [book on reserve]
• Derrida, "Introduction to the Origin of Geometry" (1962), sections I, II, III

Presentation - Peter Killam

October 21

Husserl/Derrida, cont'd

• Derrida, "Introduction," cont'd: Secs. VII and VIII 
• Maurice Merleau-Ponty, "Phenomenology and the Sciences of Man" in The Primacy of Perception  [book on reserve/master copy of essay in office]

Presentation - Leo Stan

Supplementary: Peter Fenves, "Derrida and History" in Tom Cohen (ed.), Jacques Derrida and the Humanities (2001) [master copy in office/book on reserve]

October 28

HEIDEGGER: THE MEANING OF BEING

•  Martin Heidegger, "The Onto-Theo-Logical Constitution of Metaphysics" (1957) in Identity and Difference [book available for purchase / on reserve]
• "Différance" (1968), in Margins of Philosophy [book available for purchase / on reserve]

November 4

• Heidegger/"Différance," cont'd

Friday, November 8 - FIRST PAPER DUE

November 11

ETHICS AND ALTERITY

• Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling (1843): Problema II and Problema III, pp. 82-88 and pp. 112-20 
•  The Gift of Death (1992), chaps. 3 and 4

Supplementary: Emmanuel Levinas, Ethics and Infinity, and "Dialogue" with Richard Kearney (1984) [photocopy on reserve]

Presentation - Sarah Pelton

November 18-December 2

(November 25 meeting cancelled due to conflict with AAR Meeting)

Derrida/Kierkegaard/Levinas, cont'd

DECONSTRUCTION AND NEGATIVE THEOLOGY

"How To Avoid Speaking: Denials," in Coward/Foshay (eds.), Derrida and Negative Theology [book available for purchase/on reserve], plus supplementary readings TBA - e.g., by Heidegger ("Phenomenology and Theology," in Pathmarks [book on reserve], "Time and Being" in On Time and Being [book on reserve]?) (and Jean-Luc Marion, selection from God Without Being [book available for purchase/on reserve] or The Idol and Distance [book on reserve]

Supplementary: Robyn Horner, Rethinking God as Gift. Marion, Derrida, and the Limits of Phenomenology (2001) [book on reserve]

 Presentation - Jason Robinson

December 2-4 (Special Makeup Session, perhaps around 4:30 p.m.?)

THE GIFT

Given Time:  I. Counterfeit Money, chaps. 1 and 2 [book available for purchase/on reserve]

debate with Marion (cf. God, the Gift, and Postmodernism [book available for purchase/on reserve])

(possible other reading by Marion and relevant passages in Husserl)

Supplementary: Horner, Rethinking God as Gift.

Presentation - Justin Klassen

REMOVED FROM SCHEDULE: texts on Forgiveness: ("To Forgive" (1999) in Caputo/Dooley/Scanlon, Questioning God [book available for purchase/on reserve, or print out from on-line copy]; "On Forgiveness" (1999) in On Cosmopolitanism and Forgiveness; Vladimir Jankélévitch, "Should We Pardon Them?" [master copy in office]

OR

texts on Hospitality: "Hostipitality" (1997), in Acts of Religion [book available for purchase/on reserve]; "Step of Hospitality/No Hospitality" (1996) in Of Hospitality [book available for purchase/on reserve]; possible additional reading by Levinas. 

Supplementary: Sur parole. Instantanés philosophiques (1999): "De l'hospitalité"

Friday, December 20 -  FINAL PAPER DUE

Recommended Secondary Literature

• Dermot Moran, Introduction to Phenomenology (2000) [book available for purchase/on reserve]
• Geoffrey Bennington/Jacques Derrida, Jacques Derrida (1993) [book available for purchase/on reserve]
• Adriaan Peperzak, To the Other (1993) [book available for purchase/on reserve]
• Tom Cohen (ed.), Jacques Derrida and the Humanities (2001) [book on reserve]
• Richard Kearney, Modern Movements in European Philosophy [book on reserve]

Copyright © 2001-2002 Dana Hollander