Eco-Deconstruction: Derrida and Environmental Philosophy

¿In 1998, Derrida hailed ecology as a 'new dimension of `living together.¿ Almost twenty years later, ecology is nothing new: It even risks having overtaken itself in the sense of no longer marking any specific domain. It is clear that ecology traverses all spheres of all existences. The eco-deconstruction undertaken in this volume means both an ecology of deconstruction (what is a disseminated oikos? a differing-deferring one? a prosthetic one?) and also a deconstruction of ecology, thus of economy, ecopolitics, ecomythics, and ecosophy.¿¿Jean-Luc Nancy, University of Strasbourg¿A terrific collection of essays penned by a stellar group of scholars, Eco-Deconstruction definitively demonstrates the continued relevance of deconstruction in our era of ecological disaster. No mere echo chamber of agreement, Eco-Deconstruction likewise shows us where deconstruction can be helpfully supplemented with other approaches going forward into an uncertain ecological future. Essential reading for anyone interested in environmental philosophy.¿¿Jeffrey Nealon, The Pennsylvania State University"Timely, original, and extraordinarily innovative. . . . It will be an invaluable reference point for all those interested in the intersection of continental philosophy, literary criticism, posthumanism, and environmental concerns."¿Mick Smith, Queens UniversityEco-Deconstruction marks a new approach to the destruction of our natural environment. While the work of Jacques Derrida, with its relentless interrogation of the anthropocentric metaphysics of presence, has already proven highly influential in posthumanism and animal studies, the present volume, drawing on published and unpublished work, builds on these insights to address the most pressing environmental issues of our time.From critiquing our facile understanding of temporality, to exploring an originary environmentality that marks the constitutive ecological embeddedness of mortal life, to examining such remains of human culture as nuclear waste, to articulating an ecological demand for justice, Eco-Deconstruction will resonate with readers not only of philosophy, but across the humanities and the social and natural sciences.Contributors: Karen Barad, Timothy Clark, Claire Colebrook, Matthias Fritsch, Vicki Kirby, John Llewelyn, Philippe Lynes, Michael Marder, Dawne McCance, Michael Naas, Kelly Oliver, Michael Peterson, Ted Toadvine, Cary Wolfe, David WoodMatthias Fritsch is Professor of Philosophy at Concordia University, Montréal. Philippe Lynes is Fulbright Canada Visiting Research Chair in Environmental Humanities at the University of California, Irvine. David Wood is W. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University.

Abbreviations for Works by Jacques DerridaIntroductionMatthias Fritsch, Philippe Lynes, and David WoodPart I. Diagnosing the Present1. The Eleventh Plague: Thinking Ecologically after DerridaDavid Wood2. Thinking after the World: Deconstruction and Last ThingsTed Toadvine3. Scale as a Force of DeconstructionTimothy ClarkPart II. Ecologies4. The Posthuman Promise of the EarthPhilippe Lynes5. Un/limited EcologiesVicki Kirby6. Ecology as EventMichael Marder7. Writing Home: Eco-choro-spectrographyJohn LlewelynPart III. Nuclear and Other Biodegradabilitie8. E-phemera: Of Deconstruction, Biodegradability, and Nuclear WarMichael Naas9. Troubling Time/s and Ecologies of Nothingness: On the Im/Possibilities of Living and Dying in the VoidKaren Barad10. Responsibility and the Non(bio)degradableMichael Peterson11. Extinguishing Ability: How we Became Post-Extinction PersonsClaire ColebrookPart IV. Environmental Ethics12. An Eco-Deconstructive Account of the Emergence of Normativity in ¿Nature¿Matthias Fritsch13. Opening ethics onto the other shore of another headingDawne McCance14. Wallace Stevens¿s Birds, or, Derrida and Ecological PoeticsCary Wolfe15. Earth: Love It or Leave ItKelly OliverList of ContributorsIndex