Deconstruction

The MIT Press Essential Knowledge

by David J. Gunkel

An accessible introduction to a concept often considered impossibly abstruse, demonstrating its power as a conceptual tool in the twenty-first century.

This volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series offers a clear and concise introduction to a topic often considered difficult and deconstruction. David Gunkel sorts out the concept, terminology, and practices of deconstruction, not to defend academic orthodoxy, or to disseminate the thought of Jacques Derrida--the fabricator of the neologism and progenitor of the concept--but to provide readers with a powerful conceptual tool for the twenty-first century.

Gunkel explains that deconstruction is not simply the opposite of construction--the "deconstructed" jacket hanging in your closet is not, strictly speaking, accurately named--or synonymous with destruction. It is a way to think beyond the construction/destruction dichotomy and all other conceptual dichotomies and logical oppositions. After describing what deconstruction is not, and developing an abstract and schematic characterization derived from Derrida, Gunkel offers examples in (rather than of) deconstruction, including logocentrism (the speech/writing dichotomy) and virtuality (the ruling philosophical binary of real/appearance), remix (the original/copy distinction), and the posthuman figure of the cyborg (the human/machine conceptual pairing). Finally, Gunkel discusses the costs and benefits of deconstruction, considering the many things deconstruction is good for and identifying potential problems, including Eurocentrism, relativism, difficulties in communicating the concept, and reappropriation.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

200 pages, Paperback

Published September 7, 2021

About the author

David J. Gunkel is Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Department of Communication at Northern Illinois University. He is the author of The Machine Question, Of Remixology, Robot Rights (all published by the MIT Press), and other books.

Reviews

[J S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fav book of the year (2024). Been familiar with and excited about Derrida's deconstruction for the last like 8 years, and I finally actually feel like I understand it after reading this.

[Brian Finn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A somewhat useful introduction to deconstruction, though at times seemed to assume to little of the reader. Also quite repetitive; could have been a great deal shorter and still gotten the main points across. Would recommend those interested to jump to the last two chapters first and read the first three only if there are still remaining questions.

[Billy Nisbett · Rating 5 out of 5]

A concise and well-structured introduction to deconstruction. Gunkel does a good job of motivating his arguments, backing them with theory, and citing relevant experts in the field. Thought provoking and well-written.

[Starbreeze · Rating 5 out of 5]

Accessible and concise. Better than I expected.

[Grant Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

⛏️🪚🔩🏘️🤖🐢🦑🦂🦍🐘😳

[Jessamyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Derrida for dummies. Neither good nor bad but thinking makes it so.

[Arjun · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't find it interesting. Maybe this book was not for me. My mistake.

[Jagordo · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book that wastes more of the reader's time than it'd like to admit. The final two chapters offer a good understanding of deconstruction. The rest could be compressed a heavy amount.

[Michael Barros · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book make me feel all stupid while reading it. Now I feel all smart because I finished it.

I was shocked how much I’d misunderstood deconstruction, and I gotta say, I don’t like it.

However, in the absence of his personal defenses (since he’s no longer with us), Derrida has become an icon of destruction and dismantling. You might say that there’s Derrida, Derrida’s opponents, and then a non-dialectical third option which is this Derrida simulacrum.

Hoisted by your own petard, nerd, now we’re all free to keep doing deconstruction wrong and saying it’s right and calling it “deconstruction” as a form of paleonymy! Another point on the board for morons like me! Suck it post-structuralism!

Edit: my 2nd read of this was only 1 day apart from when I read it last year. New Christmas tradition.