"It is a patient and well organized exploration of the nexus between hermeneutics and deconstruction as embodied in the works of Ricoeur and Derrida. It should serve as a guide to the differences between the two projects. This is a very topical subject and should be of wide interest." — Richard E. Palmer, MacMurray College

"This is one of the best—most accurate and precise—texts on Derrida's work in particular that I have seen. The analyses are not reductionist or simplistic, as so many other works on Derrida are, to date. It is clearly written, very precise and very clearly focused. The author builds his case carefully, thoroughly and with excellent summaries of the two opposed positions." — Irene E. Harvey, Pennsylvania State University

Acknowledgments

List of Abbreviations

INTRODUCTION. A Barely Visible Difference

PART I. The Polemic Between Ricoeur and Derrida


1. The Law of Supplementarity: A Reading of Derrida's "White Mythology"
2. Intersection: A Reading of Ricoeur's "Eighth Study" in The Rule of Metaphor
3. Distanciation and Difference: Derrida's Response to Ricoeur in "The Retrait of Metaphor"

PART II. Ricoeur's Notion of Distanciation


4. The Dialectic of Event and Meaning
5. Imagination in Metaphor and Symbol
6. The Historical Present
7. Ricoeur's Interpretation of Husserlian Temporalization

PART III. Derrida's Notion of Differance


8. The Primordial Unity of Essence and Fact: A Reading of Derrida's Introduction to Husserl's The Origin of Geometry
9. The Displacement of Imagination by Chance: A Reading of "The Double Session"

CONCLUSION: The Difference Illuminated

APPENDIX: Philosophy and Communication: Round-table Discussion Between Ricoeur and Derrida

Notes


Bibliography


Index