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Pierre-André Taguieff: "From deconstructionist pedantry was born this monster that is" wokism ""

2022-01-07T13:32:10.987Z


FIGAROVOX / TRIBUNE - The philosopher is organizing a colloquium on January 7 and 8, 2022 on deconstruction. He recalls the origins of this philosophical movement and denounces its current excesses, which according to him, constitute a threat to Western civilization.


Honorary research director at the CNRS, Pierre-André Taguieff is a philosopher, political scientist and historian of ideas.

Author of some fifty books, he recently published

Les nietzschéens et their enemies.

For, with and against Nietzsche

at Éditions du Cerf.

The idea of ​​deconstruction, which quickly became an ideological vision and a program of work on the texts, was formed from the French readings of Nietzsche and especially of Heidegger during the 1960s and 1970s. The word "De-construction" (with the capital letter) was coined by Gérard Granel in the mid-1960s to translate the polysemous term used by Heidegger: Abbau, in his essay “Contribution to the question of being” (Zur Seinsfrage, 1956), text written in 1955 in tribute to Ernst Jünger. The word Abbau had previously been used by Heidegger, notably in his 1927 course, “The Fundamental Problems of Phenomenology”, to designate the

“critical deconstruction of received concepts which are first of all necessarily in use, in order to go back to the sources where they were drawn "

. This guiding idea was present in Edmund Husserl who, in § 60 of Cartesian Meditations (1929), criticized

“metaphysics distorted in the course of history”

, and proposed, through phenomenology, to find or restore

“the meaning of what was originally founded as a primary philosophy ”

, as Derrida recalls in“ The Voice and the Phenomenon ”(1967).

We must point out the great misunderstanding about deconstruction: by its constitutive ambiguity, the Derridian enterprise, half-philosophical, half-literary, situated between Heideggerian orthodoxy and American academic avant-gardeism, could be put to all the sauces, which made all those who were inspired by it believe that they thus reached the summits of intellectual inventiveness.

Pierre-André Taguieff

It was following a meeting with Heidegger on questions of the translation of his texts that Granel, as he will explain later, proposed the word “de-construction” to

“avoid“ destruction ”which, even with a dash would refer to Zerstörung rather than Abbau ”.

Before being published, Granel's translation of Heidegger's text had circulated in Heideggerian circles, and his translation of Abbau by the word "De-construction" had attracted attention. It was immediately taken over by Jacques Derrida, who later made it into a flag. At the beginning of “De la grammatologie” - a work published in December 1967 - in which he undertakes the deconstruction of “metaphysical onto-theology” supposed to be specific to the West, Derrida defines his gesture as

“The destruction, not the demolition, but the de-sedimentation, the de-construction of all the meanings which have their source in that of the logos. In particular the meaning of truth ”

. What is aimed at is what he calls

"logocentrism"

, this

"metaphysics of phonetic writing"

and, more deeply, this

"ontology which, in its innermost course, determined the meaning of 'being as presence and the meaning of language as full continuity of speech ”

. The declared objective of the work is to work on

"the shaking"

of this ontology or of this

"metaphysics of presence"

and of

"To make enigmatic what one thinks to hear under the names of proximity, immediacy, presence"

. And to specify:

"This deconstruction of the presence passes by that of the conscience, therefore by the irreducible notion of trace (Spur), such as it appears in the Nietzschean discourse as in the Freudian discourse".

We must point out the great misunderstanding about deconstruction: by its constitutive ambiguity, the Derridian enterprise, half-philosophical, half-literary, situated between Heideggerian orthodoxy and American academic avant-gardeism, could be put to all the sauces, which led all those who were inspired by it to believe that they thus reached the summits of intellectual inventiveness, and, more particularly, to the literary critics that they had become philosophers and to the most rigid Heideggerians that they danced with. language. All disciples nonetheless of Derrida, if it is true that the synthetic formula of Derridian claims is to marry Heideggerian "depth" to Nietzschean "lightness". But also, in a certain way, to play Nietzsche against Heidegger.

"What is deconstruction not?"

but all !

What is deconstruction?

but nothing !

"

Jacques Derrida

Deconstruction always seems to escape the definitions given to it. In “Force de loi” (1994), where what he calls

“the exercise of deconstruction”

relates to justice, Derrida evokes

“research in a deconstructive style”

or a

“deconstructive questioning”

, or even a

“questioning philosophico-deconstructive ”

. Readings, research, practices, speeches, questions: deconstruction is all of these at the same time. Derrida does not shy away from provocative coquetry when he wrote in 1985, in his Letter to a Japanese friend: "What is deconstruction not?" but all ! What is deconstruction? but nothing !" Let us say more simply that it is indefinable.

These questions, reservations, extensions, indefinite autocorrections and sleight of hand have in no way prevented the sloganization of this word at once obscure, sonorous and scintillating, a privileged tool of a new pedantry within the reach of all.

Deconstruction has thus become a universal key at the same time as a tribunal before which all the great thinkers of European history are summoned, but also all the components of Western civilization.

To read also Luc Ferry: "Mrs. Rousseau, Derrida and the" deconstruction ""

In the contemporary deconstructionist landscape, we observe a certain number of politico-intellectual tendencies and orientations, associated with groups formed around masters to think and to speak, big and small. Let us roughly simplify the picture by distinguishing, on the one hand, the deconstruction of Western philosophical and political discourse, which presupposes sophisticated critical analyzes conducted by academics whether or not remaining in their respective fields of competence (philosophy, sociology, anthropology, history, science politics, literary studies, etc.), and, on the other hand, the policies of deconstruction led by committed intellectuals, who, drawing their themes and arguments from various disciplines,claim to achieve a radical critique of Western societies in all their aspects, with a view to a global transformation taking over from modern revolutionary utopias.

The supposed embodiment of the will to power and domination, the designated matrix of capitalist exploitation and colonial imperialism, the Western world is treated by the deconstructors as the absolute enemy.

Pierre-André Taguieff

It is clear that only Western civilization is the object of deconstructive activities, whether they attack discursive forms deemed to be deceptive or socio-political orders deemed unjust or unequal. The supposed embodiment of the will to power and domination, the designated matrix of capitalist exploitation and colonial imperialism, the Western world is treated by the deconstructors as the absolute enemy. Deconstruction is the intellectual weapon supposed to make it possible to reveal the unbearable hidden face of the West, namely its racism and its sexism, considered as its cultural heritages to be denounced, while waiting to abolish them. The logical conclusion of deconstructionism is that we must put an end to Western civilization.

The deconstructionist fashion had in particular the effect of sterilizing philosophical thought in France, by reducing it to the pious imitation of the writings of Jacques Derrida and his immediate disciples, such as Jean-Luc Nancy and Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe. This intellectual and language fashion presents four distinctive features: its long duration, its intimidating force, its speed of international propagation and its translation into a vulgate whose variants are found in extremely diverse fields, from contemporary art to pedagogy. , from anti-racism and neo-feminism to publicity discourse and political propaganda. The slogan of the deconstructors is simple: everything can and must be deconstructed. But it is misleading, because only Western culture is subject to systematic deconstruction.There is no question, for example, of deconstructing the victim's “feeling” of so-called minority, dominated or racialized social categories. Criminalized and demonized in all its components, the Western world is doomed to be demolished, torn to pieces, to be replaced by a better world which is hardly defined except by the negation of everything the West is in the eyes of his enemies.

Read also "Why 'deconstruction' has become an intellectual dead end"

The Heidegger-Derridian intimidation resulted in the imposition of a lexicon and a rhetoric which, by blocking free or creative thought, provided only signs of belonging to an international intellectual sect and, therefore, signs of recognition between members of the said sect, politically situated on the extreme left, whether they call themselves Marxists or not. Critical and demystifying thought, resulting from the Enlightenment, has been transformed into a deconstructive practice, the first gesture of which is to attack "logocentrism" and "phallogocentrism", the demands of rationality and universality being reduced to the expression of an unparalleled desire for domination itself related to the abominable "hetero-patriarchal system" whose misdeeds we are supposed to see every day.

The endless extension of the field of objects to be deconstructed constitutes one of the features of deconstructionist practice. In "Force de loi" (1994), Derrida adds the animal question and goes to war against "carno-phallogocentrism", giving a philosophical guarantee to antispeciesism (extension of anti-racism) and to animalism, conclusion logic of theoretical anti-humanism. According to him, it is a question of

"deconstructing the partitions which establish the human subject (preferably and paradigmatically the adult male, rather than the woman, the child or the animal) in measure of the just and the unjust"

. Decentralization and deconstruction must continue throughout the entire space of the living world.

Militant deconstructors have come to attack "leucocentrism" (from "leukós", "white"), denouncing "white privilege" and calling for "deconstructing white innocence". Leukophobia has taken hold in the politically correct discourse of racialist anti-racism. An ideological crusade has been launched by US "black feminists" against "Eurocentric and androcentric knowledge" and more broadly against "white androcentrism", designating

"the process of validation of knowledge controlled by white men and whose goal is to represent the white and male point of view ”

(Patricia Hill Collins, 1989).

As it is denounced, "x-centrism" always and only targets the Western man (the white male) intrinsically phallocentric as well as his logocentrism (or his rationalism), his paternalistic humanism and his suspect universalism, supposed to conceal his imperialism. , its nationalism, its sexism and its racism.

Read also Gender theories, non-binarity: "The beginnings of a dehumanized civilization"

The new treasures and the new pedants with a radical face have therefore settled in the lands of deconstruction at the same time as in those of revolution.

I would say, to freely paraphrase Pascal, that, since the end of the 1960s, the Heideggero-Derridians have imagined that they can philosophize

"only with big pedant dresses"

and that, when they venture to write about politics, they enter voluntarily into this "mad hospital" that is the political game, to become mad among the madmen - pretension, preciosity and pedantry in addition.

The “woke” movement stems from this long politicized deconstructionist moment which has lasted for more than half a century and has led, in higher education, to the proliferation of “studies” (Black Studies, Queer Studies, Gender Studies, etc. .), which allow activists to storm universities and occupy academic grounds.

In ordinary educational discourse, the critical spirit is now supposed to be exercised by "deconstruction", a magic word.

The same is true of the political discourse of the left rallied to decolonialism and eco-feminism.

Pierre-André Taguieff

What is the meaning of the word "deconstruction" in current use since the early 2010s in France? “Deconstruction” simply means “critical analysis with a demystifying aim” as in the calls to “deconstruct stereotypes and prejudices” (of race, sex, gender, etc.) in order to “fight against discrimination”. In ordinary educational discourse, the critical spirit is now supposed to be exercised by "deconstruction", a magic word. The same is true of the political discourse of the left rallied to decolonialism and eco-feminism. It is thus that, in these uses of the word "deconstruction", the critical mind turns against itself. The Heideggero-Derridean origins of the term have been forgotten, and new speakers, at least for the most part, ignore them.On leaving the university space, the word "deconstruction" has therefore changed its meaning. By deconstructing anything they perceive to be politically or morally incorrect, the new militant deconstructors are convinced to be "progressive". But the word "progressivism" has itself changed its meaning: deprived of its rationalist foundations and its universalist horizons, it simply designates the ideological-political posture which claims to embody the Good, namely the commitment to the left or to the extreme left, defined by its trumpeted objective: the fight for equality and justice.be "progressive". But the word "progressivism" has itself changed its meaning: deprived of its rationalist foundations and its universalist horizons, it simply designates the ideological-political posture which claims to embody the Good, namely the commitment to the left or to the extreme left, defined by its trumpeted objective: the fight for equality and justice.be "progressive". But the word "progressivism" has itself changed its meaning: deprived of its rationalist foundations and its universalist horizons, it simply designates the ideological-political posture which claims to embody the Good, namely the commitment to the left or to the extreme left, defined by its trumpeted objective: the fight for equality and justice.

The egalitarian utopia has been redefined through "wokism", a new figure of radical egalitarianism married to the strange self-hatred cultivated by Western intellectuals.

Pierre-André Taguieff

We can see there the latest version of the great communist illusion. It should be remembered that the criminal imposture that is communism, which still has its followers, its militants and its apologists, held its seduction from what it advanced under the flag of "progressivism" and promised to achieve universal equality. conditions after the destruction of capitalist society. The egalitarian utopia has been redefined through "wokism", a new figure of radical egalitarianism married to the strange self-hatred cultivated by Western intellectuals. It is no longer just a question of putting an end to capitalism, it is necessary to destroy Western civilization by starting by criminalizing its entire past and consequently rejecting all its legacies. The destruction of the tongue byinclusive writing is part of this virtist decivilization program. There is a call for a large-scale ethnocide there. From more or less playful deconstructionist pedantry was born this monster that is “wokism”, a conquering conformism which seems to mark the emergence of a new totalitarian spirit.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2022-01-07

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