(Re)Turning Derrida to Heidegger: Being-with-Others as Primordial Politics

Abstract

For decades two questions have dogged Derrida and his account of deconstruction: What is his relation to Heidegger? And, is deconstruction political? While Derrida has always acknowledged his debt to Heidegger, and claimed that deconstruction is political in nature, these two issues have been treated separately. However, I think they are related. Locating Derrida's critique of modern subjectivity within Heidegger's notion of being-with-others makes explicit the political implications of deconstruction. I argue that Heidegger's analysis of Dasein's fall into the "they" provides the philosophical (con)text in which to situate Derrida's deconstruction of the self-presence and autonomy that grounds the political agency of the modern subject. While Heidegger's analysis of the "they" seeks to recover authentic identity, Derrida's critique of logocentrism asks us to recall our inescapable responsibility to others. In politicizing Heidegger's ontology of Dasein, I contend that Derrida seeks to replace the desire for authenticity with the call for justice.