The Derrida-Habermas reader / edited by Lasse Thomassen.

Co-published with the University of Edinburgh Press.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 309-313) and index.

Introduction : between deconstruction and rational reconstruction -- 1. Leveling the genre distinction between philosophy and literature / Jurgen Habermas -- 2. Is there a philosophical language? / Jacques Derrida -- 3. Habermas, Derrida and the functions of philosophy / Richard Rorthy -- 4. An allegory of modernity/postmodernity : Habermas and Derrida / Richard J. Bernstein -- 5. Frankfurt impromptu - remarks on Derrida and Habermas / Simon Critchley -- 6. Performative powerlessness - a response to Simon Critchley / Jacques Derrida -- 7. How to respond to the ethical question / Jurgen Habermas -- 8. Democracy and difference : reflections on the metapolitics of Lyotard and Derrida / Seyla Benhabib -- 9. Dead rights, live futures : on Habermas's attempt to reconcile constitutionalism and democracy / Bonnie Honig -- 10. 'A bizarre, even opaque practice' : Habermas on constitutionalism and democracy / Lasse Thomassen -- 11. Religious tolerance - the pacemaker for cultural rights / Jurgen Habermas -- 12. Hostipitality / Jacques Derrida -- 13. Between deliberation and deconstruction : the condition of post-national democracy / Martin Morris -- 14. For a justice to come : an interview with Jacques Derrida / Jacques Derrida and Lieven De Cauter -- 15. February 15, or what binds Europeans together : a plea for a common foreign policy, beginning in the core of Europe / Jurgen Habermas and Jacques Derrida -- 16. Between hope and terror : Habermas and Derrida plead for the im/possible / Martin Beck Matustik -- 17. Honesty of thought / Jacques Derrida -- 18. A last farewell : Derrida's enlightening impact / Jurgen Habermas.

Jacques Derrida and Jürgen Habermas have long represented opposite camps in contemporary thought. Derrida, who pioneered the intellectual style of inquiry known as deconstruction, ushered in the postmodern age with his dramatic critique of reason; Habermas, on the other hand, has consistently argued in defense of reason, modernity, and the legacy of the Enlightenment. Their many differences led to a long-standing, if scattered, dialogue, evidence of which has been available in only bits and pieces. But now, for the first time, The Derrida-Habermas Reader brings these pieces together, along with a collection of essays documenting the intellectual relationship between two of the twentieth century's preeminent thinkers. Taken together, Derrida's and Habermas's writings, combined here with contributions by other prominent philosophers and social theorists, tell the story of the two thinkers' provocative engagement with each other's ideas. Beyond exploring the conflict between Derrida's deconstruction and Habermas's communicative rationality, they show how the Derrida-Habermas encounter changed over the years, becoming more theoretically productive without ever collapsing into mutual rejection or simple compromise. Lasse Thomassen has divided the essays, including works on philosophy and literature, ethics, politics, and international law, into four parts that cover the full range of thought in which Derrida and Habermas engaged. The last of these sections fittingly includes the thinkers' jointly signed work on European solidarity and the Iraq War, highlighting the hopes they held in common despite their differences. The wide breadth of this book, along with Thomassen's lucid introductions to each section, makes The Derrida-Habermas Reader an ideal starting point for anyone interested in one of the most dynamic intellectual debates of our time.

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