The Ethics of Deconstruction: A Reconsideration

Abstract

In this paper I contribute to a debate concerning the ethics of Jacques Derrida’s deconstruction by answering whether there can be an ethics of deconstruction. In a nutshell, I argue that there cannot be an ethics of deconstruction, but that there can be an ethics of deconstructive reading or strategies. I argue this through a discussion of two important claims for and against an ethics of deconstruction, that of Simon Critchley and Martin Hägglund.

In The Ethics of Deconstruction, Critchley argued that deconstruction can be understood as ethical through the ethics of Emmanuel Levinas. According to Levinas, ethics arises through an encounter with another human being. The ‘Otherness’ of this person cannot be assimilated or known and therefore refutes reduction, which produces feeling of goodness and respect in the Other. Critchley argued that deconstruction is produced by a similar primordial respect for ‘otherness’ and that deconstructive reading can in turn produce this respect.

In response to this, Hägglund argued that deconstruction cannot be ethical. He formulated three main arguments against the Derrida-Levinas connection, saying that 1) deconstruction cannot be primordially ethical, 2) they use the term ‘absolute other’ in radically different ways and 3) the unconditional affirmation in deconstruction is not ethical. I agree with his argument that deconstruction cannot be ethical in the Levinasian sense. Nonetheless, his argument has proven to be contradictory because he argues against the assimilation of Levinasian ethics to deconstruction, but he ultimately concludes that deconstruction cannot be ethical at all.'

In the remaining part of this paper, I then argue that this contradiction can be solved by maintaining a distinction between deconstruction and deconstructive reading or strategies. Ultimately, I conclude that deconstruction can indeed not be ethical at all, but that deconstructive reading or strategies can be understood as ethical, in the sense that they provide guidelines for ethical behavior.