Imagination and Chance

Leonard Lawlor is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Memphis State University.

"It is a patient and well organized exploration of the nexus between hermeneutics and deconstruction as embodied in the works of Ricoeur and Derrida. It should serve as a guide to the differences between the two projects. This is a very topical subject and should be of wide interest." — Richard E. Palmer, MacMurray College"This is one of the best—most accurate and precise—texts on Derrida's work in particular that I have seen. The analyses are not reductionist or simplistic, as so many other works on Derrida are, to date. It is clearly written, very precise and very clearly focused. The author builds his case carefully, thoroughly and with excellent summaries of the two opposed positions." — Irene E. Harvey, Pennsylvania State University

• Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations INTRODUCTION. A Barely Visible Difference PART I. The Polemic Between Ricoeur and Derrida 1. The Law of Supplementarity: A Reading of Derrida's "White Mythology"2. Intersection: A Reading of Ricoeur's "Eighth Study" in The Rule of Metaphor3. Distanciation and Difference: Derrida's Response to Ricoeur in "The Retrait of Metaphor" PART II. Ricoeur's Notion of Distanciation 4. The Dialectic of Event and Meaning5. Imagination in Metaphor and Symbol6. The Historical Present7. Ricoeur's Interpretation of Husserlian Temporalization PART III. Derrida's Notion of Differance 8. The Primordial Unity of Essence and Fact: A Reading of Derrida's Introduction to Husserl's The Origin of Geometry9. The Displacement of Imagination by Chance: A Reading of "The Double Session" CONCLUSION: The Difference Illuminated APPENDIX: Philosophy and Communication: Round-table Discussion Between Ricoeur and Derrida Notes Bibliography Index