Derrida and the Economy of Différance

Derrida and the Economy of Diffèrance is a study of Jacques Derrida's philosophies, described on its original 1986 front cover flap text as follows: "Despite, or perhaps because of, the popularity of Jacques Derrida among literary theorists, the philosophical community has for the most part ignored or rejected his work. In this valuable introduction to the philosophical implications of Derrida's thought, Irene E. Harvey argues that Derrida is indeed a philosopher, perhaps the most significant philosopher of our time. Situating Derrida's philosophical contribution within the Continental tradition of Kant, Hegel, Nietzche, Husserl, Heideffer, and Levinas, Harvey demonstrates that deconstruction is an approach not only to textuality but also to metaphysics. Tracing the development of Derrida's thought from lesser to greater complexity, Harvey investigates his explicit claims concerning the identity, function, and structure of deconstruction, metaphysics, and differance. She concludes that there exists a relation of economy among these three concepts within the structure of Derrida's work as a whole."