Deconstruction as Analytic Philosophy

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Stanford University Press, 2000 - 294 pages
In this collection of essays Samuel Wheeler discusses Derrida and other deconstructive thinkers from the perspective of an analytic philosopher willing to treat deconstruction as philosophy, taking it seriously enough to look for and analyze its arguments. The essays focus on the theory of meaning, truth, interpretation, metaphor, and the relationship of language to the world. Wheeler links the thought of Derrida to that of Davidson and argues for close affinities among Derrida, Quine, de Man, and Wittgenstein. He also demonstrates the propinquity of Plato and Derrida and shows that New Criticism shares deconstruction s conception of language. Of the twelve essays in the collection, four are published here for the first time.

The fundamental resemblance between Derrida and such analytic thinkers as Quine, Wittgenstein, and Davidson, the author argues, is that they deny the possibility of meanings as self-interpreting media constituting thoughts and intentions. Derrida argues that some form of magic language has determined the very project of philosophy, and his arguments work out the consequences of denying that there are such self-interpreting mental contents. In addition, Derrida and Davidson agree in denying any given. Without a given, questions about realism and idealism cease to have a point. Derrida and Davidson are both committed to the textuality of all significant marks, whether in neurons or on paper. They argue that there is no mode of representation more direct than language.

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Contents

Introduction
1
The Extension of Deconstruction
48
Davidson Derrida and Knapp and Michaels
73
Metaphor According to Davidson and de
88
Metaphor and the Sorites
116
A Rabbinic Philosophy of Language
137
Deconstruction Cleanth Brooks and SelfReference
147
On Henry Statens
180
IO Wittgenstein as Conservative Deconstructor
197
Deconstructed Distinctions Are OK
216
Derridas Differance and Platos Different
231
197
284
137
293
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About the author (2000)

Samuel C. Wheeler III is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Connecticut.

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