the other heading and europe by francesco tampoia

8/13/2019 The Other Heading and Europe by Francesco Tampoia

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Abstract

InPolitics of Friendship,the aporiasof friendship transposed to democracy indicate

that if democracy is a promise of the universal inclusiveness of each singular one

counting equally, and if its fraternal or national limitation naturalizes the ineluctable

decision of inclusion and exclusion, then true friendship requires dis-proportion For

!errida it demands a certain rupture in reciprocity and equality, as "ell as the

interruption of all fusion bet"een the you and the me In this "ay democracy remains

an un-fulfillable promise

In "hat follo"s, an imaginary voyage to #urope inspired by the so-called $yracuse-

paradigm, by means of a close reading of !errida%s The Other Heading: Reflections

on Today's Europe, a sort of &untimely meditation& a la 'ietzsche,I critically argue

that !errida&s idea of #uropean identity, begotten by the irruption of the other,

involves the radical other as a force that sho"s the limits of identity and of the self

(e-vie"ed, revisited and re-thought in the optic of the deconstructive standpoint, The

Other Heading acquires a ne" light focusing on the possible)impossible relation

bet"een the political and the ethical *the +ther eading, ie democracy to come,

#urope to come The deconstructive standpoint I use here falls "ithin the "ell

.no"n !errida&s binary conception that undergird his "ay of thin.ing/

presence)absence, speech)"riting, and so forth


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0ey "ords/ The philosopher and the tyrant1 the metaphor of navigation1 The +ther

eading and #uropean identity/ +dysseus and amlet1 #urope and democracy to

come

The +ther eading and #uropean identity/ +dysseus and amlet

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3"hat remains irreducible to any deconstruction, "hat remains as undeconstructable

as the possibility itself of deconstruction, is, perhaps, a certain experience of the

emancipatory promise1 it is perhaps even the formality of a structural messianism, a

messianism "ithout religion, even a messianic "ithout messianism, an idea of

4ustice--"hich "e distinguish from la" or right and even from human rights--and an

idea of democracy --"hich "e distinguish from its current concept and from its

determined predicates today5 !errida,Specters of Marx.1

!For de"ocracy re"ains to co"e# this is its essence in so far as it re"ains: notonly $ill it re"ain indefinitely perfecti%le, hence al$ays insufficient and future, %ut,

%elonging to the ti"e of the pro"ise, it $ill al$ays re"ain, in each of its future ti"es,

to "e: e&en $hen there is de"ocracy, it ne&er exist, it is ne&er present, it re"ains the

the"e of a nonpresenta%le concept(!! !errida,Politics of Friendship

Proemium

The second thought quoted in exergueis the "istful statement, li.e the leit"oti&

of Politics of Friendship6,!errida&s only boo. "ith the "ord 7politics7 in the title

ebegins by commenting on a quotation from 8ontaigne 5&O"es a"is, il n'y a nul

ami (O my friends, there is no friend&5 and then veers off into a rambling


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discussion of the quotation&s possible sources and meanings, "hich leads him to

deconstruct concepts such as friendship, hospitality, 4ustice, responsibility and

democracy

Aristotle conceived politics as the business of friends and regarded the 9ree. polis

as an arena of li.e-minded men related in citizenship by bonds of friendship In their

social and political behaviors, in their %einginco""on, 9ree. citizens usually first

agreed about their interests, second adopted the same policy, and then enacted their

common resolves In Aristotle&s footsteps,!errida reminds us that the goods internal

to friendship bring, "ith them, their o"n challenges,and turn :estern civilization and

philosophy hierarchical into abinary conception involving a pair of terms in "hich one member

*the first is assumed as primary and the other as secondary These hierarchical oppositions

privilege unity, identity, and immediacy, "hile they are opposite, independent and equal entities In

such a "ay, the entire :estern tradition of thin.ing about politics, has been distorted

by the %metaphysical concept of identity&, by the metaphysic ofpresence, in "hich

some forms of identity remain difficult to grasp, in "hich traces of otherness that

refuse to be totally mastered persist

!errida believes that the only "ay to extend the democratic values that he himself

holds is to decompose or deconstruct the language by "hich the :est has al"ays

conceived of them e believes that the mista.e, dra"n up in the language and not in

the reality, has .ept our democracies imperfect e believes, too, that only by

dismantling the vocabulary of :estern political thought can "e hope for a ne"

concept of politics +ur metaphysical tradition thin.s of man as identical to himself, a

coherent personality free from difference that "e have been encouraged to see.

through membership in undifferentiated, homogenizing groups such as families,

friendships, community, culture, nation, and borders, groups dependent on the

language, and eo ipsoconventions The problem "ith such conventions is not only

that they cover up differences "ithin the presumably identical entities, but above all

that they establish hierarchies 3bet"een brothers and sisters, citizens and foreigners,

friends and enemies& ;


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+n in $yracuse *$icily, on the occasion of receiving the

honorary citizenship of the city and the $yracuse a"ard, !errida reaffirmed his never

abandoned political engagement Facing the critique that he "as someho"

disengaged "ith the question of the political*(orty, among the others, he spo.e of

the $yracuse paradigm as his political temptation ?uite different from the )ure of

Syracuse, the $yracuse paradigm is the experience of the philosopher "ho believes to

be qualified to enlighten the statesman "ith his advices or by serving as a substitute

for him !errida, "ho surely cannot be included into a disputable list of philo-

tyrannical philosophers, remembered that @lato "ent to $yracuse to instruct the tyrant

!ionysius so that he "ould became a "ise ruler of the city For this temptation @lato,of noble origins, .ne" the very gloomy experience of slavery For this temptation, in

modern and contemporary ages, many philosophers paid a dear prize, sometimes "ith

their lives+n the role of the philosopher in politics, it is enough to remember the

famous @latonic testimony, 3$o in my praise of the right philosophy I "as compelled

to declare that by it one is enabled to discern all forms of 4ustice both political and

individual :herefore the classes of man.ind *I said "ill have no cessation fromevils until either the class of those "ho are right and true philosophers attains

political supremacy, or else the class of those "ho hold po"er in the $tates becomes,

by some dispensation of eaven, really philosophic5

:hen and "hy did !errida begin to "rite and spea. of politics As far as "e are

concerned in this paper, "e can ta.e as a reference-point the falling of Berlin&s "all

in >CDC, the re-unification of 9ermany, or the bicentennial of French (evolution

These "ere the years in "hich !errida too. part in conferences and symposia, and

developed valuable and profound contributions to the issue of politics These "ere

the years in "hich !errida tried to deconstruct the political implications of moral,

social and ethical issuesand the questions of la" and 4ustice, democracy, friendship,

hospitality, forgiveness, promise and death penalty And also, these "ere the years of

divergence from abermasEs #urope *0antian ethics of identity, the reading ofmodernity and the ne" pro4ect of #nlightenment By the "ay many, including


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abermas, accused !errida of having repudiated the legacy of the #nlightenment

Against these charges !errida repeatedly countered that he never abandoned political

engagement and claimed to be still a true heir of the #nlightenment, albeit ta.en in its

full historical dimension, and cleared up of its internal contradictions +thers thought-

and still thin.- that deconstruction as a textual and academic pro4ect is inherently

political for !errida, not because the deconstruction leads to direct political action

through prescriptions, but because deconstruction leads to the possibility of action, in

"ays political, responsible or not In other "ords, !erridean deconstruction of

:estern metaphysics, of ontology and onto-theology, turns out to be intrinsically and

primarily ethico-political in both motive and intention *no democracy "ithoutdeconstruction, no deconstruction "ithout democracy +f course, both critiques

underestimated the complexity of !errida&s promise of democracy since they failed

to consider ho" the promise of democracy transforms the terms of political thin.ing

InPolitics of Friendship, !errida argues that to be capable of friendship "e must

be able to honour in the friend the enemy he can become This means precisely the

modern motto of democratic republicanism *iberty, #quality and Fraternity, to be

able to honour in the friend, or in the fello"-citizen, the enemy he can become as a

sign of freedom, the same freedom that, 'ietzsche tells us, tyrants and slaves cannot

.no", since they are neither %equal& nor %free& enough for either friendship or enmity

!errida maintains that "e cannot guarantee the durability of friendship, and, at the

same time, that friendship cannot be coerced Friendship cannot have a particular

purpose as an instrument of sub4ective desire The friends must engage either

purposefully either "ithout purpose, in the same "ay the artists do in producing art-

"or.s In friendship as in politics, "e must recognize and respect the separation from

the other This is "hat helps us to understand our diversity from our friend and

honour in our friend the enemy she or he could become

'o" "e as., $hatare the roles of the geographical and temporal metaphors in

the battle of "ords and ideas that are usedto describe #urope and its alleged identity


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@art I

The deconstruction of European identity

In modernity, 'ietzsche is the thin.er "ho more consciously used the name

#urope e did not spare his o"n compatriots of critical "ords for the hybrid

foundation of Bismarc.&s (eich In Glderlin&s footsteps and disappointed by

Bismarc., 'ietzsche "as in search of a 9erman !elos as the central point of the

spirit (eturning to the origins, he paid much attention to the youthful #urope 4ust

born in 9reece, impelled bythe need %to feel at home, "hich every"here is the 9ree.

"orld& :ithin the frame"or. of his philosophy and his nihilism, "hich is #uropeannihilism, 'ietzsche as.s not "hat #urope is, but rather, "hat does #urope "ean, not

only for himself as a >Cthcentury acculturated nomad 9erman, or as a French, Italian,

or 9ree., but for all #uropeans $till today, the #uropeans are called to give ans"ers

to the 'ietzschean query/ :hat does #urope mean for us For all of us "ho need to

examine "ith 'ietzsche "ithin and "ithout our traditions and historical conflicts, for

all of us "ho need to as. "hat is at sta.e after a century of incomplete and exteriornihilism, "hat does #urope mean

In the past #urope has been presented as the ideal example of all that is pure,

authentic, and spiritual, either as particular instantiation or teleological model for

everyone else or as a specific place, the %universal heading& for all nations and

peoples in the "orldHAccording to !errida, the idea of #urope as exemplarity is one

of %navigation& or %heading&, one of the recurrent metaphors used by intellectuals to

evo.e the movement of transfer symbolized by the mythical-figure of +dysseus The

determinant role of omer in the ancient 9ree. and atin culture and in modern and

contemporary #uropean culture, that many intellectuals are inspired by, and the topos

of +dysseus-lysses, the 8an of 8any :ays, are "ell .no"n The +dyssey has

become %an ancestral text& for historians, philosophers, psychologists,

anthropologists, occult magicians, novelists, science-fiction "riters, biographers,auto-biographers, movie directors and composers of operas To allude to +dyssey


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means to invo.e an archetype, an authority of talismanic psychological po"er et

me remind, in passing, that Jatherine 8alabou in the boo. *ounterpath: Tra&eling

$ith +acues -erridadevelops an interpretation of !errida&s thought as a movement

constantly arri&ing $ithout deri&ing

But, there is something else #urope-as-a-heading is not only the metaphoric

#uropean figure par excellence #urope is a figure beyond the simple metaphor1 it

means movement to"ards the radical%other heading.The boo.The Other Heading

is perhaps understandable as an untimely meditation& a la 'ietzsche. .n it,

Derrida %egins $itha #urope that has been defined as the capital of culture and the

headland of thought, in "hose name and for "hose benefit the exploration of other

lands, other peoples, and other "ays of thin.ing has been carried out, 3a #urope

"here the metaphor of navigation has al"ays presented itself as a mere metaphor,

"here language and tropes have been ventured in the expectation that they "ould

return "ith an even greater value attached5 *OH, xlv-viK

Today, !errida "arns, the question of #urope must be as.ed in a ne" and heretical"ay Above all, the question must be as.ed by recalling that %the other headingE is not

a mere metaphor sub4ect to capitalization (ather, it is the very condition of our

metaphors, our language, and our thought It implies an elementary, even if

impossible, transfer bet"een singularity and universality- an antinomy even in

!errida&s opinion- bet"een the particularity of the place and the universality of the

idea of place, of the geographic continent called #urope and of the #urope to come,

the #urope of ope

The Other Headingis neither the analysis of particular discourses about Europe,

nor the proposal to broach the intricate, troubled current problems the nion and

the establishment of a transnational European state posits. !t is a te"t in #hich

Derridadenounces the ne" liberal consensus, "hich he sees as having ruled the :est

since >CDC, and lashes out hysterically at the %'e" International& of globalcapitalism, the financial "orld and media conglomerates that have established a sort


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of hegemony !errida is less critical of 8arxism- see Spectersof Marx, a boo. that

continues the reflections on the t"o genders)genres of la/le capital treated in Other

Heading e believes that communism became totalitarian "hen it began by

realizing the eschatological program outlined by 8arx In !errida& vie", 8arx&s

problem "as that he did not fully for"ard his o"n critique of ideology and that he

remained inside the ontological tradition This explains the 9ulag and genocide, and

the terror committed in his name by $oviet nion

:hat particularly interests us here, ho"ever, is that !errida thro"s doubts on every

political principle of :estern philosophical tradition/ propriety, intentionality, "ill,

liberty, conscience, self-consciousness, the sub4ect, the self, the person, and

community e as.s himself, are 4udgments about political matters still possible Jan

one still distinguish right from "rong, 4ustice from in4ustice Are these terms so

infected "ith ontologism that they must be abandoned Jan it really be that

deconstruction condemns us to silence on political matters Jan "e find a linguistic

escape from the trap of language

In The Other Heading, !errida starts "ith on an autobiographical note/ 3To

begin, I "ill confide in you a feeling- Already on the sub4ect of headings LcapsM and

of the shores on "hich I intend to remain It is the some"hat "eary feeling of an old

#uropean 8ore precisely, of someone "ho, not quite #uropean by birth, since I

come from the southern coast of the 8editerranean, considers himself, and more and

more so "ith age, some"hat over-acculturated, over-colonized #uropean hybrid 5

*OH, K-N A personal feeling, indeed, a self-portrait of one "ho, as early as grade

school in French Algeria, tried to capitalize on the old age of #urope, .eeping a little

of the indifferent and impassive youth of the other shore 3:e are younger than ever,

"e #uropeans,&& !errida adds, %&since a certain #urope does not yet exist as it ever

existed And yet "e are li.e these young people "ho get up, at da"n, already old and

tired :e are already exhausted5*OH, N-D e suggests another direction in the


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offing, the urgency of changing destination, maybe a .ind of re-4ourneying follo"ing

t"o fundamental principles

First, he presents the axiom of finitude 3This axio" of finitudeis a s"arm or

storm of questions From "hat state of exhaustion must the young old-#uropeans

"ho "e are set out again, re-embar. Lrepartir] 8ust they re-begin +r must they

departfrom #urope1 separate themselves from an old #urope +r else depart again,

set out to"ard a #urope that does not yet exist +r else re-embar. in order to return

to a #urope of origins that "ould then need to be restored, rediscovered, or

reconstituted, during a great celebration of 7reunion7 Lretrou&ailles]

5

*OH, DAnd,second, 3I "ill venture asecond axio" I believe it to be preliminary to the very

possibility of giving a meaning to such assertions *for example, that of a 7reunion7

and such questions, a very dry necessity "hose consequences could affect our

entire problematic/ $hat is proper to a culture is not to %e identical to itself Lmy

italics] 'ot to not have an identity, but not to be able to identify itself, to be able to

say 7me7 or 7"e71 to be able to ta.e the form of a sub4ect only in the non-identity toitself or, if you prefer, only in the difference $ith itselfLa&ec soi] There is no culture

or cultural identity "ithout this difference $ith itself( A strange and slightly violent

syntax/ %%"ith itself&& La&ec soi ]also means %&at home *"ith itself&&Lche0 soi ]*"ith,

a&ec, is %&che0!!, apud hoc&& *OH, C->= $hortly after, bac. to the autobiographical,

!errida "rites that the suggestion of The Other Heading as the title for his reflections

struc. him suddenly "hile he "as thin.ing of air or sea navigation on board a plane#itherby sea or by air there is a problem of direction, and, 3it is necessary to recall

ourselves not only to the other heading, and especially to the heading of the other,

but also perhaps to the other of the heading, that is to say, to a relation of identity

"ith the other that no longer obeys the form, the sign, or the logic of the heading, nor

even of the anti headingOof beheading, of decapitation*OH, >H

The heading of the other is the first condition for non-egocentric identity *contrary tothe metaphysic of identity mentioned at the beginning +penness to the other is the


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second condition It deals "ith the irruptionof otherness that occurred in ancient

9reece, !errida confesses that he has discovered by reading 9ree. "ords As (

9aschP comments in his Europe, or the infinite tas1 2 study of a philosophical

concept5if this other in all its forms irrupts into the 9ree. from the beginning *thus

foreclosing any possibility of a 9ree. self-identity or self-immanence, the 9ree., as

the source of #urope, is precisely the figure of non-closure upon itself, allo"ing it to

"elcome alterity into the logos5N From its origin #urope "as opened up not only to

conceive of that "hich comes from outside, but also being merely in opposition to it,

to ta.e it as an element of its o"n essence

Odysseus( -eclosing the Hori0on/European "e"ories(

The old #urope seems to have exhausted all possibilities of discourse and

counter-discourse about its o"n identity Today the topic of #uropean identity is

predictably tired and obsolete %&From egel to QalPry, from usserl to eidegger, in

spite of all the differences that distinguish these great examples each other,&& !errida

tells us %&-I tried to mar. them else"here, in Of Spiritfor example- this traditionaldiscourse is already a discourse of the "odern:estern "orld&&*OH, 6N It is dated1

it is dated in the sense that spea.s of#urope from the perspective of its end As far as

the issue of #urope is concerned "ithin the context of the history of ideas, as

interpreted by the mentioned intellectuals, it smac.s of rhetoric, it is faulty of

essentialism and traditionalism1 namely it is "ithin the traditional vision of

modernity 'o" is the time for attempting a dis-continuist approach, for ma.ing a

leap to leave behind the ideas of #urope of the first half of 6=thcentury, for forgetting

the issue of crisis, of the end of #urope, influenced by egelian philosophy of the

absolute spirit of #urope In any case, #urope does not have a fixed identity #urope

is bearer of difference, and the concept of head, so dear to !errida, means less a

geographical standpoint and more a philosophical standpoint It falls "ithin the "ell

.no"n binarysm of oppositions that undergird our "ays of thin.ing/

presence)absence, speech)"riting, and so forth


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%To be& means to inherit human responsibility, and difference is the very site of

the possibility of any :e #uropeans are called to fulfil the paradoxical responsibility

for and to a specific tradition of responsibility -from atin Erespondere!- that has been

bequeathed to us, one "hich even 'ietzsche "as appealing to, a contradictory 9ree.-

(oman responsibility/

3To ma.e ourselves the guardians of an idea of #urope, of a difference of #urope,

%utof a #urope that consists precisely in not closing itself off in its o"n identity and

in advancing itself in an exemplary "ay to"ard "hat it is not, to"ard the other

heading or the heading of the other, indeedOand this is perhaps something else

altogetherOto"ard the other of the heading, "hich "ould be the beyond of this

modern tradition, another border structure, another shore&& *OH, 6C And

%&To be faithfully responsibleforthis memory, and thus to respond rigorously to

this double in4unction/ "ill this have to consist in repeating or in brea.ing "ith, in

continuing or in opposing +r indeed in attempting to in&ent another gesture, an epic

gesturein truth, that presupposes memory precisely in order to assign identity fromalterity, from the other heading and the other of the heading, from a completely other

shore 5*OH, 6C-;= Assuming or re-assuming, at the same time, the classical

concept of responsibility, that is the reference to the genealogy of #uropean

responsibility

:hat "e #uropeans find difficult to thin. about today and to produce for a

#urope, torn a"ay from self-identification as repetition of itself, is precisely

something ne" and radically unforeseen that requires a brea. "ith the present,

recognition of the uniqueness of today, the singular event, the singular advent of

#urope, and the potentiality of a future in the urgency of here and no" !errida

believes 3that this is ta1ing place no$ I believe, rather, that this event ta.es place

as that "hich comes, as that "hich see.s or promises itself today, in #urope, the

today of a #urope "hose borders are not givenOno more than its name #urope being


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here only apaleony"ic appellation I believe that if there is any event today, it is

ta.ing place here5 *OH, ;=->

The *apital

!errida goes on to comment on the .ey"ord %capital&, "hich capitalizes on a

double significance and t"o genres of questions It can be understood as the

fe"inine,as the question of la capital1 and second, to the "asculine, as the question

of le capital, "hich leads to the theme of the #uropean cultural identity The

ineluctable question of la capitalmust be translated and displaced "ithin a debate on

the current techno-scientific means of communication +n the one hand, it isimpossible to accept la capitalas a centralizing authority, as a po"er that, by means

of trans-#uropean culture and technology, "ould control and standardize the artistic

discourses and practices to the grid of intelligibility, of philosophical or aesthetic

norms in order to pursue ratings and commercial profitability +n the other, at issue is

the principle that #uropean cultural identity cannot be dispersed into a myriad of

provinces, a multiplicity of self-enclosed idioms or petty little nationalisms, each one4ealous and untranslatable

(e4ectingboth the fragmentation and the traditional idea of the unification of

#urope, ie the modern concept of union of #urope, !errida calls for a rene"al of the

#nlightenment-values and liberal democracy, neither of "hich by itself could

overcome the #urocentric biases and chauvinism In deconstructing concepts such as

public opinion, freedom of press, responsibility and identity, !errida&s aims to open

up to"ard ne" language*s for contemplating #uropeEs destiny e "ill even venture,

%&to say that ethics, politics, and responsibility, if there are any, "ill only ever have

begun "ith the experience and experiment of the aporia The condition of possibility

of this thing called responsibility is a certain experience and experi"ent of the

possi%ility of the i"possi%le/ the testingof the aporiafrom "hich one may invent the

onlypossi%le in&ention, the i"possi%le in&ention&& 3OH,> And, to be sure,such anaporiahas the logical form of contradiction


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:ith the contemporary tele-technologies, the geo-political boundaries and

territorial mar.ers are sub4ect to displacement and permanent dislocation :hether

demands are made to establish or to protect the national borders and state sovereignty

and"hether claims are advanced for the citizenship and the democratic rights, these

demands all together find a measure of their historical, legal, and discursive

formation inscribed into the geo-political mar.ers and topographical-spatial

boundaries In short, "hat the accelerated development of tele-technologies, of

cyberspace, of ne" topology and of %the virtual& is producing, !errida argues, is a

deconstructionat "or. of the traditional, dominant concepts of state and citizenship

In a "orld ruled by the mono-perspectivism of global mar.et economics, "hen and"herever a television is s"itched on, "hen and "herever a phone-call is made, "hen

and "herever an Internet connection is established, the question of critical culture, of

democracy, of political, and of de-territorialisation erupts Television, radio and

internet create %ghostly duplications& in transmitting and declaring something present

that instead is a spectral imagine of something occurring in a different place Allo"

me, in passing, to remind that the occasional and explicit motive of The OtherHeading is the media D ere as else"here, the in4unction seems double and

contradictory for "hoever is concerned "ith #uropean cultural identity If it is

necessary to ma.e sure that a centralizing hegemony is not reconstituted, accordingly

it is necessary to prevent borders, movements, and margins from multiplying, and to

not cultivate for its o"n sa.e the minority differences, the untranslatable idiolects, the

national antagonisms, or the chauvinisms of idiom The #uropean responsibility

consists exactly in renouncing neither of these t"o contradictory imperatives

Follo"ing the optic of deconstructive standpoint and the concept of difference, it

"ould seem that #uropean cultural identity, li.e identity or identification in general,

"ustbelong to theexperi"ent of the i"possi%leif it must be equal to itself and to the

otherOup to the measure of its o"n immeasurable difference "ith itself !errida

"rites, 3'evertheless, one "ill al"ays be able de 4ure to as. "hat an ethics or apolitics that measures responsibility only by the rule of the impossible can be/ as if


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doing only "hat "ere possible amounted to abandoning the ethical and political

realms, or as if, inversely, in order to ta.e an authentic responsibility it "ere

necessary to limit oneself to impossible, impractical, and inapplicable

decisions5*OH, H-K The national affirmation, as an essentially modern

phenomenon, remains al"ays a philosopheme 'ational hegemony aims to 4ustify

itself in name of a privilege in responsibility and in memory of the universal

o"ever, the bac.bone of this national self-affirmation- similar to eideggerian

Sel%st%ehauptung and the nuclear statement of the national 7ego7 or 7sub4ect7-

remains quite dry !errida argues 7I am *"e are all the more national for being

#uropean, all the more #uropean for being trans-#uropean and international1 no oneis more cosmopolitan and authentically universal than the one, than this E"e,E "ho is

spea.ing to you7*OH,D In the logic of this sound cosmopolitan discourse, "hat is

proper to a particular nation or idiom, and "hat is proper to #urope, analogically, is

to advance itself as a heading for the universal essence of humanity ere, I am

tal.ing about the human rights, the freedom of thought, and consequently the

freedom to publish, and the freedom to teach

From the issue of the head to the issue of the geopolitical frontiers, "hich seems

to !errida less uncertain than geographical ones, "e rediscover the spiritual frontiers

There is great uncertainty regarding the borders of #urope, but not regarding its

spiritual borders *around the ideas of philosophy, reason, monotheism,


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spirit, culture, and tradeare round together *LHistory and Politics, p >CKM5 *OH,

K;-, Italics added

(e-echoing Qalery and pointing out another heading, !errida notes that if it is

impossible to name #urope "ithout spea.ing in atin, "ithout ac.no"ledging a

9raeco-(omano-Jhristian heritage, allied to the imperial pursuit of capital, it is

possible, then, to dream of another heading, not far from (ome, but no longer (ome

!errida "rites, %%this 8editerranean shore also interests me- coming as I do from the

other shore if not from the other heading *from a shore that is principally neither

French, nor #uropean, nor atin, nor Jhristian&& *OH, ;H-;K +n the other side of the

8editerranean, !errida can imagine a #urope that "ould find place not 4ust for

Athens and (ome but also for


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%&dictates respecting differences, idioms, minorities, singularities, but also the

universality of formal la", the desire for translation, agreement, and univocity, the

la" of ma4ority, opposition to racism, nationalism, and xenophobia&&*OH, ND It

demands, moreover %&tolerating and respecting all that is not placed under the

authority of reason It may have to do "ith faith, "ith different forms of faith It may

also have to do "ith certain thoughts, "hether questioning thoughts or notR For

these thoughts #urope may also try to remain faithful to the ideal of #nlightenment

*2uf1larung, .llu"inis"6, ac.no"ledging its limits in order to "or. on the

#nlightenment of our time, the time that is oursOtoday *OH, ND-NC 'o doubt, such

duties call for a special responsibility, effective and- $ith experience, throughexperi"ent- interminable

At the end of the pamphlet, !errida concludes thus/ 3I am #uropean, I am no doubt a

#uropean intellectual, and I li.e to recall this, I li.e to recall this to myself, and "hy

"ould I deny it But, I am not, nor do I feel, #uropean in e&ery part, that is, #uropean

through and through By "hich I mean, by "hich I "ish to say, or "ustsay/ I do not

"ant to be and must not be #uropean through and through, #uropean in e&ery part

8y cultural identity, that in the name of "hich I spea., is not only #uropean, it is not

identical to itself, and I am not 7cultural7 through and through, 7cultural7 in every

part5*OH, D6 'either #urocentrist, nor anti-#urocentrist, "hat comes through

!errida&s critical and continual interrogation of #uropean identity, in "hich #urope

imposes both as a conception and as a tas. of universality, is the ac.no"ledgment of

a public and political space, and of an infinite tas. Before his death, in the short

article 3A #urope of ope5 delivered in 8ay 6==, !errida launched his final prayer

and hope for the future #urope, for an +ther eading

-e"ocracy and responsi%ility: -errida and 7ant(

In commenting on the mentioned duties, one "ould thin. of appealing once more

to usserl o"ever, the most recent scholarly debate leads to "riting further on the


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relationship bet"een 0ant and !errida and the intersection and interaction bet"een

ethics and politics

!errida has frequently said %I am ultra-0antian I am 0antian, but I am more than

0antian% To"ards the end of the *ritiue of Pure Reason, at Janon of @ure (eason,

0ant reformulates the three central preoccupations of his philosophy/ :hat can I

.no" :hat should I do :hat can I hope for ere, "hat interest us are particularly

the second and the third questions 0ant "rites/ 3The second question is merely

practical As such, to be sure, it can belong to pure reason, but in that case is not

transcendental, but moral, and thus cannot be in itself an ob4ect ofcritique The third

question %If I do "hat I should, "hat may I then hope& is simultaneously practical

and theoretical, so that the practical leads li.e clue to a reply to the theoretical

question and, in its highest form, the speculative question For all hope concerns

happiness, and "ith respect to the practical and the moral la" it is the very same as

"hat .no"ledge and the natural la" is "ith regard to theoretical cognition of

things&&C:hat shall I do :hat shall the #uropeans do 0ant&s ethics is based on

the possible1 !errida&s ethics is guided by the impossible 0antian hospitality

depends on a "ide range of criteria concerning identity and length of stay, namely, it

is conditional !erridean hospitality is part of ethical sphere, and is of unconditional

demand

et us pause, for a moment, at this "ell-.no"n case of deconstructive practice, an

example of un-conditionality "ithout sovereignty as


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other "ords, could politics ever become ethical The sensible, 3realistic5 ans"er is

not, at least not completely For asylum see.ers, one of the topics !errida has

frequently been concerned "ith, !errida concedes that states and their la"s generally

rule the political criteria !errida concedes, too, that the conditions of hospitality may

be necessary, but he retorts the argument saying that the difficulties must be

addressed in a different "ayospitality, he argues, is %an art and a poetics& and,

despite its political and ethical aspects, it should be reinvented every time The .ind

of hospitality that can be reshaped for each situation is very significant in its

limitlessness In short, !errida thin.s that the true political invention lies in

experiencing and negotiating the limits of the aporias of universality andparticularity)singularity, all the "hile remaining a"are of the i"possi%ilityof such a

tas. @olitics must be conceived in a "ay that ma.es negotiating "ith ethics a more

promising affair 'o doubt, an unconditional hospitality is practically impossible to

live1 yet, "ithout at least the thought of this pure and unconditional hospitality, of

hospitality itself, "e "ould have no concept of hospitality in general and "ould not

even be able to determine any rules for conditional hospitality :e must therefore%%re-inscribe the unconditional into certain conditions&&

Europe and the scene of inheritance( The PrinceHa"let(

!emocracy is born in 9reece, and by extension in #urope I quote at some length

from Thucydides&Peloponnesian $arsthe famous speech of @ericles :e read/ 3+ur

constitution does not copy the la"s of neighbouring states1 "e are rather a pattern to

others than imitators ourselves Its administration favours the many instead of the

fe"1 this is "hy it is called a democracy If "e loo. to the la"s, they afford equal

4ustice to all in their private differences1 if no social standing, advancement in public

life falls to reputation for capacity, class considerations not being allo"ed to interfere

"ith merit1 nor again does poverty bar the "ay, if a man is able to serve the state, he

is not hindered by the obscurity of his condition The freedom "hich "e en4oy in our


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government extends also to our ordinary life There, far from exercising a 4ealous

surveillance over each other, "e do not feel called upon to be angry "ith our

neighbor for doing "hat he li.es, or even to indulge in those in4urious loo.s "hich

cannot fail to be offensive, although they inflict no positive penalty But all this ease

in our private relations does not ma.e us la"less as citizens Against this fear is our

chief safeguard, teaching us to obey the magistrates and the la"s, particularly such as

regard the protection of the in4ured, "hether they are actually on the statute boo., or

belong to that code "hich, although un"ritten, yet cannot be bro.en "ithout

ac.no"ledged disgrace5>> The early democracy of Athens names itself isono"ia,

literally, equality before the la" In practice, this means citizens equally possessingthe same freedom to spea. publicly of the common affairs in the polis, and the ability

to resolve differences through discourses and argumentations rather than violence In

the margin of @ericles& democratic and)or demagogic speech, !errida certainly "ould

say %%"e are still 9ree.s, certainly, but perhaps other 9ree.s, "e "ere not born from

4ust that 9ree. send-off1 $e are certainly still other9ree.s, "ith the memory of

events that are irreducible to the 9ree. genealogy, but other enough to have not only,also, altered the 9ree. in us, but to bear "ithin us something "holly other than the

9ree.&& >6 9reece, or "hatever deserves the name 9ree., is that "hich actually

ma.es it possible to envision another #urope, but also that "e, "ho are 9ree.s, are

9ree.s of another .ind, are +ther 9ree.s If democracy remains the horizon of our

time, the only constitutional paradigm, in "hich, in principle, one finds the right and

the responsibility to criticize publicly everything, including the idea of democracy, its

concept, its history and its name, for !errida %democracy to come& remains the

horizon beyond "hich is possible)impossible to thin. Today "e are no longer at the

9ree.polis, at the traditional concept ofpoliteia 'either @ericles&s democracy, nor

the current %liberal democracy& are the !erridean %democracy to come& The principle

of equality-cited many times inPolitics of Friendship tends to introduce measure and

calculation *and thus conditionality, compromises 4ustice 8arx "ould say it is

constantly stigmatized by a %ourgeoislimitation The democracy to come "ants to go


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be concerned "ith both the determination of 4ustice and the excess of 4ustice over its

determination This double strategy unties the philosophical deconstruction from

politics at the very moment it ties deconstruction to it

The aporia of Edemocracy to comeE has limited purchase upon "orld actuality and

the formation of universal la"s This the criticism of some post-!erridean

philosophers, ill disposed to accept the impotent messianism of democracy to come,

as Sie. "ho "rites/ %!errida&s notion of %deconstruction as ethics& seems to rely on

a utopian hope "hich sustains the spectre of %infinite 4ustice&, forever postponed,

al"ays to come&>H The question remains1 politics is not a matter of passive

expectation1 it envisages action And, if the idea of 4ustice cannot be articulated, it

cannot provide any aim for political action According to !errida all that remains to

guide us is decision, pure and simple/ a decision for 4ustice or democracy, and for a

particular understanding of both Sie. continues thus %!errida&s later %political&

"ritings as too beholden to the impossible ob4ect of desire, too %utopian& in their

commitment to the promise of democracy, hospitality, 4ustice, friendship, the gift,

and so on/ %!errida&s notion of %deconstruction as ethics& seems to rely on a utopian

hope "hich sustains the spectre of %infinite 4ustice&, forever postponed, al"ays to

come, but nonetheless here as the ultimate horizon of our activity& *ib

Again, ho" may the philosophical community respond in the living present There is

no predeter"inedpath leading from philosophy to politics, from thought to action,

from politics to ethics If the %to-come& that mar.s the disad4usted and dis4ointed

time of present is al"ays alreadyhaunting the %actual& in political interventions, "e

can never rest assured "ith thegood conscience of having made the right decision

:e are al"ays hanging over the indecision of decision and the hyperbolic

responsibility for the other, responsibility fraught "ith ris.s, existential ris.s and

dangers To %e means to inherit (esponsibility consists 3in responding, hence in

ans"ering to the other, before the other and before the la", and if possible publicly,


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ans"ering for itself, its intentions, its aims, and for the name of the agent deemed

responsible5>K8aybe,the very idea of responsibility is an impossible idea

In the volume)a *rise de l!esprit( ote in essays uasi politiues,>NQalery presents

an imaginary #uropean amlet leaning from a terrace that overloo.s the "hole of

#urope and loo.ing at million of ghosts e is an intellectual "ho reflects on life and

death, is oppressed by the "eight of his discoveries and his .no"ledge, and at the

same time is incapable of any action e is someone "hose troubles appear both to

live in the moment and to have a past e reflects on the boredom of the past that

needs to be rediscovered, at the folly of continual innovation *+dysseus e is torn

bet"een t"o crevasses, since t"o are the dangers confronting the "orld/ order and

disorder !escending from the terrace, the #uropean amlet pic.s up a s.ull and

recognizes it for the trace of the development of #uropean history/ 3:hose "as it

This one "as)ionardo And this other s.ull is that of eibniz "ho dreamed of

universal peace And this one "as 0ant qui genuit egel, qui genuit 8arx, qui

genuit amlet does not .no" "hat to do "ith all these s.ulls But if he abandons

themU :ill he cease to be himself >N :hat "ould the #uropean intellectual

become It is time to say goodbye to ghosts since it has no need for them any longer

Jlearly, for amlet the image-figure of the s.ull represents the manner for connecting

the past and the present, essentially the mind)spirit that leads to another identification

of the other *autre cap There is a lin. "ith spectrality and #uropean legacy, that of

the figure of revenant and)or arrivant The specters are important for #uropean

memory amlet&s confrontation "ith the ghost of his father precipitates the 4udgment

that %the time is out of 4oint&, and becomes his *of amlet responsibility, as his

father&s heir, to set things right


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political culture must be removed and re-thought in an unpredictable and emerging

future #thics does not involve the mere application of "ell-"orn maxims1 ethics

becomesreacquainted only "ith fear and trembling that accompanies any decision by

means of the %ethicality of ethics& #thics involves the exigency of decisions, since

decisions, ta.en in a non-metaphysical sense, are unavoidable, and a decision is

al"ays particular, confined to a singular and unique situation, responding to a unique

call from the other

Epilogue

as !errida sufficiently entertained the idea of democracy to come Is it so distantto be effectively meaningless The !erridean advice consists in .eeping the force of

rethin.ing democracy beyond the borders of the political, of rethin.ing the political

beyond the political, of rethin.ing the democratic beyond democracy et me

emphasize that for !errida, or his specter, remains that %democracy to come& gives

movement to democracy, that democracy to come and democracy are implicated in

the play bet"een identity and difference, are the condition of the production ofmeaning At the same time, for !errida subsiststhe search for a path to"ards a real,

concrete democracy beyond democracy, something that can be accomplished only by

"ay of approximation that may give a plus of democracy to the present and future of

#urope As a 8editerranean intellectual !errida "ould say/Europeans de tous les

pays, encore un effort(

I "ould li.e to "ind do"n, in closing, "ith the continuation of the second thought in

the exergue/ 3.t is possi%le to open up to the co"e! of a certain de"ocracy $hich is

no longer an insult to the friendship $e ha&e stri&en to thin1 %eyond the ho"o

fraternal and phallogocentric sche"e; D


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#ndnotes

>


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do"n along the line Other Heading-e"ocracy to co"e, a lin. absent from the

ma4ority of discussions of !errida&s "or. or under recognized in previous readings of

the pamphlet

N ( 9aschP,Europe, or the infinite tas1 2 study of a philosophical concept-

$tanford niversity @ress, Jalifornia 6==C, p 6CN

D CCD

>= >H=>

>6 ere, I refer to the essay/ CC, p

6=

>H Sie., $lavo4, .n -efense of )ost *auses ondon/ Qerso6==D, p 66H


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>K CC6, p 6K-6N

>N @ Qalery, a Jrise de l&esprit 'ote in Essays uasi politiues, +euvres,@aris/ 9allimard, la @lPiade, >CHN-translated by !enise Folliot and CK6, p >CK and

follo"ing

>D


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the other heading and europe by francesco tampoia

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