Deconstruction Is Justice

Author(s): Elisabeth Weber

Source: SubStance, Vol. 34, No. 1, Issue 106 (2005), pp. 38-43
Published by: University of Wisconsin Press
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"Deconstructionis Justice"
ElisabethWeber

Thisprovocative assertion, fromDerrida'sForceofLaw(945),sharply

contrastingwith the decades-old criticismof deconstruction as an
aesthetisizing apolitical and ahistorical
exercise, in
recapitulated 1989
thestakesofaninfinite taskandresponsibility that,inspiteofandbecause
ofitsinfinity, cannotbe relegatedto tomorrow: "[...] justice,however
it
unpresentable maybe, doesn't wait.It is thatwhich mustnotwait"
(ibid.,969).Itis in thespiritofsuchurgency, ofa responsibility thatcannot
be postponed,thatJacquesDerridawas an activeand outspokencritic
and commentator on issuessuchas SouthAfrica's Apartheid, theIsraeli-
Palestinianconflict, thebloodycivilwar in his nativeAlgeria,human
rightsabuses,Frenchimmigration laws,thedeathpenalty, and on what
RichardFalkhas termed"thegreatterror war."'
In our era-the era FrenchhistorianAnnetteWieviorkahas called
the "era of thewitness"2 - questionsof answeringto theother'scall,
questionsof respons-ibility have gained,withinthe humanities,a
that
significance they never had had in non-Jewish Westernthought
before.Thisdevelopment would be unthinkable withouttheimmense
contribution ofJacquesDerrida'swritings.Throughout his oeuvreand
his life,he witnessedtotheunheard,over-shouted orsilencedvoicesof
thosewho have largelybeen excludedby the dominantcurrentsof
Western thought-whohavebeen,as ToniMorrison's novelBeloved puts
it,"disremembered andunaccounted for."Whatis more,JacquesDerrida
formulated thenecessityofbeingfullyawareoftheriskand aporiasof
thistaskofmemory: thatspeakingforandremembering theothercarries
in itselftheseed ofa secondbetrayal.The difficulties surrounding the
questionsofmemoryand justiceare "notinfinite simplybecausethey
are infinitely numerous,norbecausetheyare rootedin theinfinity of
memoriesand cultures(religious, philosophical, juridical, and so forth)
thatwe shallnevermaster"(ForceofLaw,947).Rather, theyareinfinite in
themselves, because they are inhabitedby a series
of "aporias" thatmake
justice"an experience oftheimpossible"(ibid.),thatis,oftheincalculable
and theunpredictable. Far fromencouraging resignation, or a turning
awayfrompoliticsandhistory, theseaporiasactuallyrendermoreurgent
thedemandofjustice.One oftheseaporiascanbe foundin thetension

? Board of Regents, University of Wisconsin System, 2005

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JacquesDerrida:A Counter-Obituary 39

betweentheuniquenessoftheaddressandthenameand thenecessity
of
ofthelaw:
thegenerality

An address is always singular,idiomatic,and justice, as law (droit),

seems always to suppose the generality of a rule, a norm or a
universal imperative.How are we to reconcilethe act of justice that
must always concern singularity,individuals, irreplaceable groups
and lives, the other or myselfas other,in a unique situation,with
rule, norm, value or the imperative of justice which necessarily
have a general form,even if this generalityprescribes a singular
application in each case? (ibid.,946)

As ChristophMenke succinctlyformulatesit: The "deconstructive

unfolding ofthetensionbetweenjusticeandlaw" occurs"inthenameof
an experience thatno politicalstancecan capture,butthatnevertheless
anypoliticsas itsborder,and therefore
affects as itsinterruption"
(286).
Suchan "experience" is giveninthename,whichis whythequestion
ofthenameis attheveryheartofJacquesDerrida'sthought. Thedemand
forjusticeis notseparablefromtheuniquenessofthegiftofthename
and theimplications ofthisgift.In a reflection
on the"finalsolution,"
Derridadescribeshow theexperienceofthenameaffects politicsas its
"border",and as its "interruption":

[...] one cannotthinktheuniqueness ofan eventlikethefinalsolution,

as extremepoint of mythicand representationalviolence,withinits
own system.One must tryto thinkit beginningwith its other,thatis
to say, starting from what it tried to exclude and to destroy, to
exterminateradically,fromthatwhichhaunteditat once fromwithout
and within.One must tryto thinkit startingfromthe possibilityof
singularity, the singularityof the signatureand of the name, because
what the order of representationtried to exterminatewas not only
human lives by the millions, natural lives, but also a demand for
justice; and also names: and firstof all the possibility of giving,
inscribing,calling and recalling the name. (ForceofLaw, 1042)

One musttryto thinkit starting fromthepossibilityofsingularity

not
only because "there was a destruction
or projectof of
destruction the
nameandoftheverymemory ofthename,ofthenameas memory" (ibid.)
butalso becausethisnameis in factindissociable from"barelife."3
The abilityto give a name is onlygivento thosewho have been
called themselves.Namingis intrinsically markedby thefactand the
consciousand,moreimportantly, unconsciousrecognitionthatwe have
beencalledourselves, the
by inscription, in words, a callthat,as
other of
EmmanuelLevinasputit,precededourabilitytoanswer.Thisis thelaw

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40 Elisabeth
Weber

atthe"origin"ofall laws:we havebeencalled,and,touse Jean-Franqois

Lyotard'sformulation, we are hostagesto thiscall,whetherwe know
and affirm itornot.Now morethaneverintheeraofthewitness,oneof
ourtasksis to bearwitnessto theuncannystrangeness ofthiscall that
emanatesas muchfromtheOtheras frommyself, whomEricSantner
calls "thebearerof an internalalterity"(9). The factthatnamingthe
irreplaceable"you" is in its verycoremarkedby what Derridacalls
"iterability,"inscribes theinstitutioninthisuniqueevent.Itis onlyinits
iterability(inotherwords,recognizability) thattheaddresscanbe heard.
But thisiterability, thisparadoxicalrepetition at the origin,does not
contradict unicity:itmakes itpossiblein thefirst
place.Itis whatcould
be calledtheexcessoftheinstitution withinthecall.We canexhaustthe
callas littleas we canexhaustthefactthatwe wereborn.Ithas calledus
intoa lifeofrelationand infinite contingency,and makesitselfheardas
theradicalopennessand vulnerability thatis ours,and thatis called
beingalive.Thisinfinite finitudecouldbe calledtheexcessofthecall
withintheinstitution (theinstitutionoflanguageas wellas theinstitution
of laws and rights).Derrida'sthoughtuntiringly probes thesetwo
"excesses"-the excess ofthe within
institution thecall,withinsingularity,
and theexcessofthecall and itssingularity withintheinstitution.Put
otherwise, it exploresa logicofthephantom,a "hauntology" thathas
far-reaching consequencesfora politicaltheory. The reflectionon the
"finalsolution"is hereagainexemplary:
I ask myselfwhethera community thatassemblesor gathersitself
togetherinordertothinkwhatthereis tobe thought andgathered of
thisnamelessthingthathasbeencalledthe"finalsolution"does not
have to show,firstof all, its readinessto welcomethelaw of the
phantom, thespectralexperience andthememory ofthephantom, of
thatwhichis neitherdead norliving,morethandead and morethan
living,onlysurviving, thelaw of themostcommanding memory,
even thoughit is themosteffacedand themosteffaceable, butfor
thatveryreasonthemostdemanding.(ForceofLaw,973)
The necessityof welcomingthe "memoryof the phantom"marks
Derrida'scommitment tojusticeinitsentirety
andfindsitsphilosophical
in
counterpart concepts-introducedalready in Derrida's earliest
writings-suchas the "trace,""diff6rance," and the "supplement."If
"deconstruction's
affair," in AnselmHaverkamp'swords,is not "the
provenvalidityofresults,northecuttingofGordianknots;"if,rather,
deconstructionsets out to findthe "mostcomplicatedinterlacement"
der
(Kritik Gewalt,7) of theseknots,thenone locus of a particularly
complicatedinterlacement visitedbyDerridaoverand overagainis the
questionofmemory, as memoryofthephantom.The questionis notso
muchhow to "addressthephantom,"and whetherone can questionor

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JacquesDerrida:A Counter-Obituary 41

addressit,as whether "onecanaddress oneselfingeneral ifsomephantom

does not already return"(SpectresofMarx,279) And, referring to
Shakespeare's Hamlet,Derridacontinues: "If,atleast,he lovesjustice,the
'scholar'ofthefuture, the'intellectual'
oftomorrow wouldneedtolearn
it [toaddresshimself totheother],and ofhim[thephantom]."In order
to addressoneselftotheotherin thesearchforjustice,onehasfirst ofall
"towelcomethelaw ofthephantom," precisely because this"law ofthe
phantom" is the "most effacedand effaceable" and, for thatveryreason,
"themostdemanding," themosturgent.
"Beloved"is,inToniMorrison's novel,thenameonthetombstone of
a dead girl,ofwhomthereaderneverlearnsthelivingname.Theviolence
ofherdeathand thebrutality ofslaverythatcauseditmakeherhaunt
thelivesofhermother, herbrothers,and ofall theirrelations. Itis ofher,
the returned and disappeared ghost, that Morrison writes:
"Disremembered andunaccounted for,shecannotbe lostbecauseno one
is lookingforher,and eveniftheywere,how can theycall herifthey
don'tknowhername?"(274).Beloved'smemoryis, indeed,"themost
effacedand effaceable," and,as Morrison's bookpowerfully shows,"the
most demanding."So unbearablydemandingthat,in the end, her
apparitionis chasedback intoinvisibility: "It was not a storyto pass
on" (274-75).4 The challengethatDerrida'sthoughtaddressestous is to
realizetheneedto "learn"- fromtheother, fromthenameless,fromthe
phantom-howtoaddressourselvestoher;how tolearnhernamewith
thekeenawarenessthatlookingforthatnameand learningitbearsin
itselftheriskof"losing,"forgetting, betraying itin itssingularity.
Such "learning"is all but confinedto a philosophicalor literary
meditation. It requiresa wide-awakepoliticalawarenessof whichthe
following quotes,frommorerecenttextsbyDerrida,givea first, and by
no meansexhaustive, impression:
In our "wars of religion,"violence has two ages. The one [...]
appears "contemporary,"in sync or in step with the
hypersophisticationof military
tele-technology- of "digital"and
cyberspacedculture.The otheris a "new archaicviolence,"ifone
can putitthatway.It countersthefirst
and everything itrepresents.
[...] A newcrueltywould thusally,in wars thatare also wars of
religion,the mostadvanced technoscientificcalculabilitywitha
reactivesavagerythatwouldliketo attackthebodyproperdirectly,
the sexual thing,thatcan be raped,mutilatedor simplydenied,
desexualized-yet anotherformof the same violence.(Faithand
Knowledge, 52)
"The dominantpoweris theone thatmanagesto imposeand,thus,to
indeedto legalize(forit is alwaysa questionof law) on a
legitimate,
nationalor world stage,theterminology and thustheinterpretation

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42 Elisabeth
Weber

contextof
thatbestsuitsit in a givensituation."In thecontemporary
and
politics,religion, the"war terror",
against morethanever,

[...] radical changes in internationallaw are necessary [...] I would

be temptedto call philosophersthose who, in the future,reflectin a
responsible fashion on these questions and demand accountability
fromthose in charge of public discourse, those responsible for the
language and institutions of international law. A "philosopher"
(actually I would preferto say "philosopher-deconstructor") would
be someone who analyzes and thendraws the practicaland effective
consequences of the relationshipbetween our philosophical heritage
and the structureof the stilldominantjuridico-politicalsystemthatis
so clearly undergoing mutation. (Autoimmunity, 105-06)

Derridawrites:
Further,

We would have to analyze everymutationin the structureof public

space, in the interpretation of democracy, theocracy, and their
respectiverelationswithinternationallaw (in its currentstate,in that
which compels or calls it to transformitselfand, thus,in thatwhich
remainslargelyto come withinit),in the conceptsof the nation-state
in the notionof citizenship,in the transformation
and its sovereignty,
of public space by the media, which at once serve and threaten
democracy,and so on. Our acts of resistancemust be, I believe, at
once intellectualand political.We must join forcesto exertpressure
and organize ripostes,and we must do so on an internationalscale
and according to new modalities, though always while analyzing
and discussing the very foundations of our responsibility, its
discourses, its heritage, and its axioms. (ibid., 126, translation
modified)
"Deconstruction is justice,"sinceitcallsforan untiring(inprinciple
becausenever"finished")
infinite, analysisofthephilosophicalheritage
and itsjuridico-political systems,an analysisthatis inseparablefrom
an equallyinfinite responsibility. If hastycriticsconstruethisdoubly
"infinite"
call as condemning us to paralyzedinaction, theyaremerely
acknowledging that this call is unbearablydemanding,so unbearably
demanding that itsfidelitytothe mosteffaced andeffaceableonesshould
be chasedbackintoinvisibility, inaudibility. thatis their
illegibility, But
problem.Any carefulreaderof Derrida'stextsknowsthatthe work
waitingto be done cannotwait.5
University SantaBarbara
ofCalifornia,

Thisessaywas postedin theelectronic

German in January
LawJournal
2005 (http://www.germanlawjournal.com).

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JacquesDerrida:A Counter-Obituary 43

Notes
1. Richard Falk, The GreatTerrorWar (2002).
2. AnnetteWieviorka,L'Ere du teimoin (1998).
3. On the concept of the "bare life," see Giorgio Agamben, Homo Sacer.Sovereignty
and
theBareLife(1998).
4. See SpectresofMarx, 165: "The spectre,as its name indicates, is the frequencyof a
certainvisibility.But the visibilityof the invisible.And visibility,by essence, is not
seen, which is why it remains epekeinatesousias,beyond the phenomenon or being.
5. My heartfeltgratitudegoes to my friendand colleague JulieCarlson forher astuteand
inspiringcomments and suggestions.

WorksCited
Derrida, Jacques. "Autoimmunity:Real and SymbolicSuicides," in Philosophy
in a Timeof
Terror,ed. Giovanna Borradori,2003.
- -. "Faith and Knowledge." In Religion,ed. J.Derrida and G. Vattimo.1998.
- -. Forceof Law. Trans. Mary Quaintance. 11 CardozoLaw Review,1990.
- -. SpectresofMarx. 1993.
Falk, Richard. The GreatTerrorWar. 2002.
Haverkamp, Anselm, ed. Gewaltund Gerechtigkeit. 1994.
Haverkamp,Anselm.Kritik
derGewaltunddieMbglichkeit
vonGerechtigkeit: in
Benjamin
Deconstruction,in: Haverkamp, 1994.
in Haverkamp, 1994.
Menke, Christoph.Fiir einePolitikder Dekonstruktion,
Morrison, Toni. Beloved. 1998.
Santner,Eric.On thePsychology Life.2001.
ofEveryday
Wieviorka, Annette.L'Ere du temoin.1998.

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