Thinking through French Philosophy: The Being of the Question

by Leonard Lawlor

For many, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, and Gilles Deleuze represent one of the greatest movements in French philosophy. But these philosophers and their works did not materialize without a philosophical heritage. In Thinking through French Philosophy, Leonard Lawlor shows how the work of Maurice Merleau-Ponty formed an important current in sustaining the development of structuralism and post-structuralism. Seeking the "point of diffraction," or the specific ideas and concepts that link Derrida, Foucault, and Deleuze, Lawlor discovers differences and convergences in these thinkers who worked the same terrain. Major themes include metaphysics, archaeology, language and documentation, expression and interrogation, and the very experience of thinking. Lawlor’s focus on the experience of the question brings out critical differences in immanence and transcendence. This illuminating and provocative book brings new vitality to debates on contemporary French philosophy.

232 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2003

About the author

Leonard "Len" Lawlor is Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Philosophy at Pennsylvania State University. He specializes in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Continental philosophy. He is author of Imagination and Chance: The Difference between the Thought of Ricoeur and Derrida and co-editor (with Fred Evans) of Chiasms: Merleau-Ponty's Notion of the Flesh. He is a founding editor of the journal Chiasmi International: Trilingual Studies Concerning the Thought of Merleau-Ponty.

Reviews

[Kamakana · Rating 3 out of 5]

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180514: later addition. suggest you read appendix 2 before the last several chapters, if not read before. 'reversing platonism' by Deleuze, includes some indications of how the text changed before end result.

this book is fascinating and frustrating. lawlor writes well, and the early part refers to much merleau-ponty, husserl, way of thinking phenomenologically, but there is a sense of assumptions that the reader will be familiar with the works he cites. this becomes a problem as he traces the development of post-modern thought, through Derrida, Deleuze, Foucault, hence a certain frustration. these works are unknown to me. need to read some of these authors, any suggestions? maybe even should read Bergson again... there are great moments, such as when he clarifies deconstruction and destruction, offers bases for both phenomenology and structuralism, but read this intermittently this past month or so. have forgotten some arguments. m-p is important, is relevantly questioned, extended, compared and contrasted with Heidegger. have finished the main text, now reading the appendices...