Status van die geskiedenis in die werk van Jacques Derrida

Abstract

Some critics of the French philosopher, Jacques Derrida, have labelled his work as ahistorical and apolitical. In this article Derrida's views on, among others, textuality, differance and metaphysics are scrutinized for the implications they may have for history: the strategic objective of Derrida's statement that there is nothing outside the text, is to demonstrate that reality can be approached only by an interpretative experience. The role of the temporal dimension in differance is stressed: the process of signification cannot be realized without the play of retentions from the past. Derrida problematizes the logocentric, metaphysical concept of history and suggests a plural, heterogeneous apprehension of history. Although Derrida's deconstruction does not include an extensive social theory, hardly any penetrating historical inquiry, whether literary or historiographical, can ignore Derrida's compelling challenge to history.