Letters from Tomis

My Socialist Hall of Fame

During this chaotic era of vile rhetoric and manipulative tactics from our so-called bourgeois leaders, I am invigorated by the opportunity to reflect on Socialists, Revolutionaries, Philosophers, Guerrilla Leaders, Partisans, and Critical Theory titans, champions, and martyrs who paved the way for us—my own audacious “Socialism’s Hall of Fame.” These are my heroes and fore-bearers. Not all are perfect, or even fully admirable, but all contributed in some way to our future–either as icons to emulate, or as warnings to avoid in the future.

Jacques Derrida (1930–2004) was a French philosopher widely regarded as one of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth century. Born on July 15, 1930, in El Biar, Algeria, Derrida moved to France to pursue higher education, eventually attending the prestigious École Normale Supérieure in Paris, where he studied philosophy and literature.

Derrida’s thought centers around the concept of “deconstruction,” a critical approach aiming to reveal and subvert the internal contradictions and binaries within philosophical texts, language, and ideas. Influenced by phenomenology, structuralism, psychoanalysis, and linguistics, Derrida challenged traditional philosophical methods by arguing that meaning and interpretation are inherently unstable, contingent upon context and linguistic frameworks.

His groundbreaking 1967 work, “Of Grammatology,” critiques the Western philosophical tradition’s privileging of speech over writing, proposing that writing, rather than being secondary, plays a foundational role in the construction of meaning. Derrida’s subsequent works, including “Writing and Difference” (1967), “Margins of Philosophy” (1972), and “Specters of Marx” (1993), expanded his exploration of language, ethics, politics, and metaphysics.

Derrida’s influence extended beyond philosophy into literary criticism, cultural studies, sociology, law, and political theory. His ideas significantly shaped postmodern thought and sparked considerable debate, influencing theorists and critics globally.

He taught at institutions worldwide, including Johns Hopkins University, Yale University, and the University of California, Irvine, and was the founding director of the Collège International de Philosophie in Paris.

Derrida passed away on October 9, 2004, leaving behind a vast and complex intellectual legacy.

Bibliography:

• Derrida, Jacques. Of Grammatology. Translated by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976 (originally published 1967).

• Derrida, Jacques. Writing and Difference. Translated by Alan Bass. University of Chicago Press, 1978 (originally published 1967).

• Derrida, Jacques. Margins of Philosophy. Translated by Alan Bass. University of Chicago Press, 1982 (originally published 1972).

• Derrida, Jacques. Dissemination. Translated by Barbara Johnson. University of Chicago Press, 1981.

• Derrida, Jacques. Specters of Marx: The State of the Debt, the Work of Mourning and the New International. Translated by Peggy Kamuf. Routledge, 1994 (originally published 1993).

• Derrida, Jacques. The Politics of Friendship. Translated by George Collins. Verso, 1997 (originally published 1994).

• Bennington, Geoffrey, and Derrida, Jacques. Jacques Derrida. University of Chicago Press, 1993.

• Caputo, John D. The Prayers and Tears of Jacques Derrida: Religion without Religion. Indiana University Press, 1997.

• Norris, Christopher. Derrida. Harvard University Press, 1987.