Dialogue and Deconstruction : The Gadamer-Derrida Encounter

Text of and reflection on the 1981 encounter between Hans-Georg Gadamer and Jacques Derrida, which featured a dialogue between hermeneutics in Germany and post-structuralism in France.

Before the encounter in 1981 between Hans-Georg Gadamer and Jacques Derrida, there had been virtually no confrontation or dialogue between hermeneutics in Germany and post-structuralism in France, nor has there been since then. Part I of this book makes available for the first time in English the complete texts of the encounter at the Goethe Institute in Paris. This exchange raised such issues as Gadamers relation to psychoanalytic interpretation, the questionability of texts, Heideggers reading of Nietzsche, and the dialogical aspect of language.

Part II offers further reflections by Gadamer on the encounter itself and its relation of hermeneutics to deconstruction. Among the issues covered are Derridas interpretation of "Destruktion" in Heidegger, Derridas attack on logocentrism in Heideggers interpretation of Nietzsche, and the relation of Heidegger, hermeneutics, and deconstruction to dialectic.

Part III offers commentaries on the encounter from a variety of perspectives. The authors assess the original encounter as well as Gadamers subsequent reflections on it.