Derrida on Religion
- Course Code:
- 158000158
- Status:
- Course Not Running 2012/13
- Unit value:
- 0.5
- Year of study:
- Year 2 or Year 3
While Jacques Derrida’s work is most familiar to literary theorists and philosophers, the importance of his thinking to questions of religion has received growing critical attention over the past decade. Derrida's writings on religion address and question many of the fundamental concepts that inform the three Abrahamic religions and their cultures. He attempts to rethink the logic of religious difference and to elucidate its significance for contemporary culture and society. Through a close reading of his texts on religion and through analysis of core Derridean concepts—deconstruction, différance, the metaphysics of presence, logocentrism, and supplementarity—this course will investigate the importance of Derrida's work for understanding topics such as the relation between Islam and the Judeo-Christian West; the new "wars of religion" and their implications for European modernity; the nation-state, and international law; the complex interplay of religion, economics, media, and techno-science within the processes of globalisation; the role of sexuality and the body in violent religious conflict; contemporary formulations of ‘radical evil’, and so on. The purpose of the course is to provide students with a comprehensive introduction to Derrida’s work and to his philosophy of religion.
Objectives and learning outcomes of the course
On successful completion of this course, a student will:
- have acquired knowledge of Derrida's perspectives and writings on religion
- have reflected on the relevance of these to her or his areas of interest
- be able critically to evaluate a variety of books, journals and other sources of information relevant to the topics studies on the course
- have produced and presented a detailed essay on an area related to Derrida's work on religion and to broader field of the philosophy of religion
Method of assessment
1 essay (4,500-5,000 words) (100%).Suggested reading
- Caputo, John D., ed. (1997) Deconstruction in a nutshell: a conversation with Jacques Derrida. New York: Fordham University Press.
- Derrida, Jacques (2002) Acts of Religion. London: Routledge.
- Derrida, Jacques and Gianni Vattimo (1998) Religion. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
- Kamuf, Peggy, ed. (1991) A Derrida Reader: Between the Blinds. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
