« The distribution of the sensible | Main | Long Sunday in The American Book Review »
Maurizio Ferraris, in his Introduzione a Derrida writes:
Kant's idea is that, once having found the categories through which the subject relates itself to the world (le categorie attraverso cui l'io si riferisce al mondo), it is still necessary to specify something intermediate, partly sensible, partly insensible, that will assure the passage from the pure forms of the intellect (the categories) to sensibility.
This intermediate element, this 'third' between sensibility and intellect, is called by Kant a schema, something which is at the basis both of the constitution of ideality (idealità) and of meaning, and also of our passivity in relation to experience. He argues that this schema is the product of a mysterious faculty, the productive or transcendental immagination.
Derrida proposes a solution that is a little less esoteric.
. . .
In brief, writing really seems to be a strong candidate for identifying this "third" element between sensibility and intellect. It certainly is a lot less mystical than the "transcendental immagination." Between the subject (l'io) and the world there is something in common, the trace ("traccia" can also mean "sign").
Of course, Ferraris is not the first person to compare Derrida and Kant. I believe Rorty also has an article titled "Is Derrida a transcendental philosopher?"
By Swifty | November 17, 2006 | Permalink
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/361357/6861201
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference :
Comments
Swifty, thank you for posting this. But I suspect that Derrida's notion of trace (or ecriture, supplement, differance) is not any less mysterious. But that doesn't that these notions are meaningless - what Derrida succeeded at was positing the necessity of what is excluded, or marginalized, for the production of meaningful experience. Without this "mysterious faculty," there couldn't be any meaningful experience at all.
Posted by: Alain | Nov 17, 2006 12:25:58 PM
The "transcendental" label, if applied correctly, is certainly not without merit (cf. Agamben's geneology of philosophy - or for that matter Kevin Hart's. The former is available especially in Potentialities and distinguishes between those of transcendence and immanence, with Derrida/Levinas on one side and Deleuze/Foucualt on the other). Not that this is any earth-shattering remark.
Posted by: Matt | Nov 17, 2006 8:45:46 PM
Post a comment
Please note: comments are published at the discretion of the post's author and will not appear immediately. Do not submit comments more than once.