Derrida and Hospitality: Theory and Practice

by Judith Still

Judith Still sets Derrida's work in a series of contexts in a series of contexts including the socio-political history of France, especially in relation to Algeria, and his relationship to other writers, most importantly Hélène Cixous and Emmanuel key thinkers of hospitality. Working across the full breadth of fields that Derrida's work on hospitality influenced, Still thinks through relationships between individuals and the community or state. Judith Still also follows the thread of sexual difference in Derrida's writing to shed light on his exploration of the complex and delicate, strange yet familiar, political and ethical dilemmas of how to be those impossible a good host and a good guest.

304 pages, Hardcover

First published November 26, 2010

Reviews

[Leanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hospitality: it seems like such everyday experience. And yet, hospitality has become a burning topic in philosophical and political debates for a few decades now. Reasons for this could include, writes Judith Still in her book Derrida and Hospitality, the recent influxes in immigration into Europe, as well as the way the hospitality can inform conversations surrounding post-colonialism, nationalism, and reconciliation. For the last one, see Richard Kearney's Guestbook Project.

As contemporary philosophers of hospitality like to point out, the words hospitality and hostility are also linked.

Although it is Derrida who is best-known for his philosophy of hospitality, his work was deeply influenced by Emmanuel Levinas. Like Derrida, Levinas was a French philosopher who hailed from elsewhere. Both coming to France as adults, they also shared a Jewish background. Levinas in particular was grounded in Talmudic scholarship and sought to redress what he believed was an over-focus on ontological issues in the European philosophical tradition. He was not interested in the endless pursuit of deducing ethical behaviors from abstract maxims--and instead aimed to turn this practice on its head. Such that, instead of a Kantian-style categorical imperative, which evaluates actions based on abstract notions of universalizability, Levinas grounded ethical behaviors in concrete and particular relationships. He did this using the host-guest relationship as primary. And he said that this welcoming must take place not just in the private space of the home but also in the public space of the homeland.

Derrida was greatly influenced by Levinas and wrote about a story he heard from Maurice Blanchot:

The Messiah was at the gates of Rome unrecognized, dressed in rags. But one man who recognized that this was the Messiah went up to him and asked him, ‘When will you come?’

Derrida did not believe any Messiah would ever come. And yet he insisted that this messianic structure was what opened human beings up to ethical goodness.

He called this the “impossibility of hospitality.” This does not mean hospitality is not possible, but rather that it becomes a kind of moving target that individuals and societies can negotiate, taking into account the conditional nature of inviting strangers in, weighing the risks involved.

Also recommend Priya Basil's book on Hospitality and Andrew Shepherd's The Gift of the Other: Levinas, Derrida and the Theology of Hospitality, in which the author sees the collapse of hospitality and neighborliness as a by-product of global capitalism.