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Life Death

By Jacques Derrida
Series: The Seminars of Jacques Derrida
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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Life Death by Jacques Derrida delves into the intricate relationship between life and death, exploring how these concepts are intertwined philosophically and linguistically. Derrida challenges traditional boundaries, offering insights into how these existential themes play out in language, thought, and the structures of meaning. This work provides a profound reflection on the interplay of opposing forces that shape human experience.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$5899
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might appreciate this book if you're intrigued by the intricate dance between language, identity, and mortality. This book delves into the philosophies surrounding existence and the structures of meaning, offering thought-provoking insights into how death and life are interwoven in our understanding of the world. It's perfect for those who enjoy deep philosophical and psychological exploration.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

The seventh in our series of Derrida's seminars, Life Death provides interdisciplinary reflections on the relationship of life and death—now in paperback.

One of Jacques Derrida’s most provocative works, Life Death deconstructs a deeply rooted dichotomy of Western thought: life and death. In rethinking the relationship between life and death, Derrida undertakes a multi-disciplinary analysis of a range of topics across philosophy, linguistics, and the life sciences.

Derrida gave this seminar over fourteen sessions between 1975 and 1976 at the École normale supérieure in Paris to prepare students for the agrégation, a notoriously competitive exam. The theme for the exam that year was “Life and Death,” but Derrida made a critical modification to the title by dropping the coordinating conjunction. The resulting title of Life Death poses a philosophical question about the close relationship between life and death.

Through close readings of Freudian psychoanalysis, the philosophy of Nietzsche and Heidegger, French geneticist François Jacob, and epistemologist Georges Canguilhem, Derrida argues that death must be considered neither as the opposite of life nor as the truth or fulfillment of it, but rather as that which both limits life and makes it possible.

Derrida thus not only questions traditional understandings of the relationship between life and death but also ultimately develops a new way of thinking about what he calls “life death.”

Series: The Seminars of Jacques Derrida

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  • Life Death
    The seventh in our series of Derrida's seminars, Life Death provides interdisciplinary reflections on the relationship of life and death—now in paperback. One of Jacques Derrida’s most provocative works, Life Death deconstructs a deeply rooted dichotomy of Western thought: life and death. In rethinking the relationship between life and death, Derrida undertakes a multi-disciplinary analysis of a range of topics...
    By Jacques Derrida
    Paperback
    $5899
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • Perjury and Pardon, Volume I
    An inquiry into the problematic of perjury, or lying, and forgiveness from one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century. “One only ever asks forgiveness for what is unforgivable.” From this contradiction begins Perjury and Pardon, Volume I, a two-year series of seminars given by Jacques Derrida at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales in Paris...
    By Jacques Derrida
    Hardback
    $9699
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • Perjury and Pardon, Volume II
    An exploration of the political dimensions of forgiveness and repentance from Jacques Derrida. Perjury and Pardon is a two-year seminar series given by Jacques Derrida at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales in Paris during the late 1990s. In these sessions, Derrida focuses on the philosophical, ethical, juridical, and political stakes of the concept of responsibility. His primary...
    By Jacques Derrida
    Hardback
    $9699
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • Theory and Practice
    Now in paperback, nine lectures from Jacques Derrida that challenge the influential Marxist distinction between thinking and acting. Theory and Practice is a series of nine lectures that Jacques Derrida delivered at the École Normale Supérieure in 1976 and 1977. The topic of "theory and practice" was associated above all with Marxist discourse and particularly the influential interpretation of Marx...
    By Jacques Derrida
    Paperback
    $10700
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    Ships in 2-3 weeks
  • Hospitality, Volume II
    Hospitality, Volume II
    Jacques Derrida explores the ramifications of what we owe to others. Hospitality, Volume II reproduces a two-year seminar series delivered by Jacques Derrida at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales in Paris between 1995 and 1997. In these lectures, Derrida asks a series of related questions about responsibility and "the foreigner": How do we welcome or turn away...
    By Jacques Derrida
    Hardback
    $8599
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  • Hospitality, Volume I
    Pre-order
    Hospitality, Volume I
    Jacques Derrida explores the ramifications of what we owe to others. Hospitality, Volume I reproduces a two-year seminar series delivered by Jacques Derrida at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales in Paris between 1995 and 1997. In these lectures, Derrida asks a series of related questions about responsibility and "the foreigner": How do we welcome or turn away...
    By Jacques Derrida
    Paperback
    $5699
    Pre-order
    Out 10 Jan 2027

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Jacques Derrida's Life Death is considered an essential and intellectually daring course of lectures from 1975-76, exploring the complex relationships between life and death, both philosophically and scientifically. Critics praise its deconstructive readings and explorations of thinkers like Nietzsche and Freud, highlighting its relevance and depth. The translation is noted for its grace and accuracy, contributing to the book's accessibility and richness.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780226826448

Publisher: The University of Chicago Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 19 June 2023

Country: United States

Imprint: University of Chicago Press

Contributors:

  • Edited by Peggy Kamuf
  • Edited by Pascale-Anne Brault
  • Translated by Pascale-Anne Brault
  • Translated by Michael Naas
  • Edited by Pascale-Anne Brault
  • Edited by Peggy Kamuf

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 25.0mm

Width: 152.0mm

Height: 229.0mm

Weight: 399g

Pages: 328

Collections

Jacques Derrida Non-Fiction Philosophy & Psychology Philosophy & Stoicism Series: The Seminars of Jacques Derrida

About the Author

Jacques Derrida (1930–2004) was director of studies at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris, and professor of humanities at the University of California, Irvine. He is the author of many books published by the University of Chicago Press. Pascale-Anne Brault is professor of French at DePaul University and is the translator of several books by Derrida. Peggy Kamuf is professor emerita of French and Italian and comparative literature at the University of Southern California. She has written, edited, or translated many books, by Derrida and others, and is coeditor of the series of Derrida’s seminars at the University of Chicago Press. Michael Naas is professor of philosophy at DePaul University and is the author of several books, most recently Plato and the Invention of Life.
 

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