Jacques Derrida (1930–2004)

Abstract

Of all the philosophers of the late twentieth century, Derrida is probably the most influential and the most widely misunderstood. His impact on the direction literary criticism has taken has been enormous; the reception of his work was to produce what has become known as “deconstruction” and set the stage for the debate between modernism and postmodernism. His works have had a wide and diverse influence on many disciplines, including fields as different as architecture, art, feminism, filmmaking and film criticism, legal scholarship, music, psychoanalysis, and theology.