Chapter 1 - Deconstruction

Summary

This chapter argues that, despite its reputation, deconstruction constitutes an ethical practice that preserves the possibility of unpredictable transformation. Theorists such as Rita Felski and Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick claim that critique corrodes the capacity to make affirmative judgments in particular contexts. They echo early critics who associate deconstruction with a pure play that precludes responsible rationality. I argue instead that deconstruction constitutes a discipline of openness to the unexpected. On Derrida’s diagnosis, metaphysical certainty aims to assuage the anxiety that arises in an unstable world; his concern is that this buys some comfort while closing the individual to others. In contrast, deconstructive negativity enables another kind of affirmation – uncertain, subject to revision, and sustained by hope.