Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction
- I Truth and Some Philosophers
- II Moral Progress: Toward More Inclusive Communities
- III The Role of Philosophy in Human Progress
- 13 The Historiography of Philosophy: Four Genres
- 14 The Contingency of Philosophical Problems: Michael Ayers on Locke
- 15 Dewey Between Hegel and Darwin
- 16 Habermas, Derrida, and the Functions of Philosophy
- 17 Derrida and the Philosophical Tradition
- Index
17 - Derrida and the Philosophical Tradition
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 July 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction
- I Truth and Some Philosophers
- II Moral Progress: Toward More Inclusive Communities
- III The Role of Philosophy in Human Progress
- 13 The Historiography of Philosophy: Four Genres
- 14 The Contingency of Philosophical Problems: Michael Ayers on Locke
- 15 Dewey Between Hegel and Darwin
- 16 Habermas, Derrida, and the Functions of Philosophy
- 17 Derrida and the Philosophical Tradition
- Index
Summary
In the actual world Nietzsche was a twitchy, irresolute, nomadic nerd who never got a life outside literature. But consider the possible world in which Nietzsche got lucky early on, and wound up a happy, affectionate, suburban paterfamilias. In this more satisfactory world, the ridicule of Wilamowitz-Mollendorf (the John Searle of his day) failed to sink The Birth of Tragedy. On the contrary, that book enjoyed, simultaneously with Moriarty's treatise on the binomial theorem, a European vogue. Outrageously successful, Nietzsche's U.S. lecture tours eclipsed those of Dickens. The many books about him by American fans and imitators in the United States (the old Mark Twain, the young H. L. Mencken), as well as the equally many books that excitedly warned against his dangerous influence, kept his name constantly before the public. Instead of breaking down at forty-five, he kept right on writing, joyously and prolifically, “having a great time.”
Would success, sanity, and suburbia have spoiled Friedrich Nietzsche? Would perfection of the life have wrecked the work? Could he have written so well against resentment if he had experienced it less often? Could he have written The Will to Power if he had gotten some? Maybe not. But the example of Derrida, like that of Dickens, should make us suspicious of the idea that loneliness and neglect are good for genius and that fame and money always corrupt. Derrida remains as fresh, as moving, and as funny as ever, despite all the puffing and all the bashing he has endured. He has somehow managed to take both in his stride.
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- Truth and ProgressPhilosophical Papers, pp. 327 - 350Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1998
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