Derrida: The Gift, the Impossible, and the Exclusion of Reciprocity

2019 ◽  
pp. 11-29
Author(s):  
Marcel Hénaff
Keyword(s):  
Final Analysis ◽  
Critical Reading ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Gift

This chapter discusses Jacques Derrida's Given Time (1992), which presents an aporia of the gift that has made its mark and has occasioned many commentaries and a few refutations. The aporia of the gift according to Derrida can be summed up as follows: Giving is always understood as a relationship between a giver and a receiver, an exchange that generates a debt and in the final analysis remains within the confines of economic reciprocity; in this, the gift becomes the opposite of what it claims to be. To escape this logic, for the gift to be truly a gift, Derrida claims, the giver would have to be unaware that he is giving, and the receiver unaware of the giver's identity. Starting with those requirements, Derrida proposes a critical reading of Marcel Mauss's The Gift (1990), a writing where the obligation to give, receive, and reciprocate established by ethnographic inquiries is understood as the core of the gift relationship. Derrida's purpose is not to reject those data, but to dispute the validity of the term “gift” as designating a gesture that presupposes or even mandates the requirement of reciprocity.

Peace in Lebanon and the Middle East

2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-155
Author(s):  
Salim El Hoss
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Final Analysis ◽  
Full Scale ◽  
Conventional Wisdom ◽  
Current Crisis ◽  
The Road ◽  
The Core ◽  
Road Map ◽  
Sustainable Peace

Lebanon has never experienced an extended interval of sustainable peace since its independence. In 1975, Lebanon was the scene of a civil war. In 1982, a full-scale war was mounted by Israel. In the process massacres were perpetrated by the Israelis. The current crisis has been punctuated by momentous tragic events which brought salient changes in the sordid course of life in the country, unleashing a prolonged cabinet crisis, and finally an intricate, highly critical discord over the election of a new president. It was no accident that so many spots of tension are boiling at the same time in the Middle East in Lebanon, in Palestine, in Iraq, and in Sudan. The conventional wisdom is that, in the final analysis, Palestine lies at the core of all the mayhem. The linkage between the repeated Lebanese crises and the Palestinian issue is only too obvious. The proclivity of Arab officialdom is to negotiate within the context of what is known as the Arab initiative. The Euro–American declared position is that any negotiations should be conducted in accordance with the Road Map sponsored by the Quartet. Both initiatives leave a lot to be desired.

A Broken Fast

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 165-184
Author(s):  
Timothy Stock ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Precise Meaning ◽  
The Core ◽  
Ethical Discussion ◽  
The Gift ◽  
The Subject

“The gift of bread from my mouth” serves as a byword for “Levinasian ethics,” the precise meaning of which is often taken for granted. It is not at all clear that a prescriptive ethics could ever be derived from these passages; it is also a hyperbole for responsibility. Discussion of this figure almost universally ignores the parallel, and explicitly ethical, discussion of Isaiah 58, where the breaking of bread represents the perplexity of hunger, the rejection of oppression, and the proximity of God. The breaking of bread is not a self-standing account of ethics but is paralleled by the ethics of the broken fast. The “gift of bread from my mouth” helps to explain the repeated references to fasting throughout Levinas’s authorship. The varying figures of the broken bread frame an ontological drama: sensibility, separation, proximity, and diachrony—and presses the sense that possession and the ego are ethically futile, as the alterity of hunger is proximal or “at the core” of the subject.

scholarly journals Kirkebygninger i religionsmodellens grænseflade. Mellem fælles kulturarv og folkekirkeligt magtmonopol

2015 ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
Hans Raun Iversen
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Final Analysis ◽  
Special Situation ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Church ◽  
Church Buildings

The organization and work of The Danish National Church form the core of the Danish model of religion. One might, therefore, think that this would also include the church buildings used by the church. I argue that the church buildings used by The National Church and especially the pre-Reformation buildings are placed in the borderland of the Danish model of religion, since they belong to the common cultural heritage although they are administered by the church. I analyze the historically conditioned ownership followed by an outline of the interpretations of the buildings endorsed by respectively the official church and its members. The special situation pertinent to the church buildings of Copenhagen is described before the final analysis of the principles underlying the decision by the Minister of Cultural Affairs on the bishop’s suggestion to close down 14 churches in Copenhagen in 2013. I conclude that church buildings in Denmark hold a status similar to holy cows in India.Folkekirkens organisation og virksomhed udgør den danske religionsmodels kerneområde. Herudfra slutter man let, at det også må gælde de kirkebygninger, som folkekirken gør brug af. Det er denne artikels tese, at folkekirkens kirkebygninger, og særligt den dominerende del af dem, som er bygget før reformationen, hører hjemme i den danske religionsmodels grænseflade. Dette fordi de tilhører den fælles kulturarv, selv om de er undergivet folkekirkelig administration. Artiklen beskriver først bygningernes historisk betingede ejendomsretlige status, dernæst den folkelige og kirkelige tolkning af bygningerne, og endelig redegøres der for de særlige forhold omkring kirkerne i København. Til sidst analyseres de principielle retningslinjer om kirkebygninger, der kommer til orde gennem Kulturministerens afgørelse af 14 kirkelukningssager i Københavns Stift i 2013. Konklusionen lyder, at kirkebygningernes status i Danmark er sammenlignelig med de hellige køers status i Indien

Martin Luther on Christian Hope and the Hope for Eternal Life

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey G. Silcock
Keyword(s):  
Final Analysis ◽  
The Other ◽  
Eternal Life ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
God's Word ◽  
The Gift ◽  
Triune God ◽  
The One ◽  
Two Sides ◽  
Theological Concept

Luther does not develop a theology of hope because hope is not the central driver of his mature theology. Central for him is rather faith in the promise of God, which gives rise to hope as well as love. There are two sides to justification that correspond to the now/not-yet character of Luther’s eschatology. On the one hand, we are already righteous through the gift of Christ’s righteousness, which we have in spe but not yet in re. On the other hand, the hope of righteousness strengthens us against sin as we wait for the perfection of our righteousness in heaven. However, in the final analysis, the basis of our hope is not the incipient righteousness which has begun in us (in re) as we gradually grow in holiness and righteousness, but Christ’s own perfect righteousness which he imputes to us through faith (iustitia aliena). For hope can only be rock-solid if it is grounded not on anything within us, but on Christ alone. The early Luther has a very different view of things because, before 1518, he is still very much under the influence of Augustine, which means that justification is primarily a process that goes on within a person’s heart rather than, as in the later Luther, faith in God’s word of promise that comes to a person from outside and gives what it says. The dominant theological concept in Luther’s early work is the theology of humility, which is predicated on the view that God must first humble you and cause you to despair, before he can raise you up and give you hope. Since here faith is not yet oriented to the promise but defined by humility, it has to remain uncertain, as does hope. In the later Luther, on the other hand, faith gives rise to confidence and hope because it is firmly grounded in God’s word of promise, which is always reliable because God does what he says. With his faith firmly grounded in Christ, Luther knows that he can weather all the trials and struggles of life; in fact, he can even look forward to death, since for Christians death is but the door to life with God forever. For Luther, Christ is the only hope for a hopeless world. For him, this is not wishful thinking but is rock-solid because it is based on the promise of the crucified and risen Lord. This is also the basis of the Christian hope for eternal life in the presence of the Triune God, together with the renewed creation and all the hosts of heaven.

Orientalist Representations of Antakya (Antioch-on-the-Orontes) in Digital Media Narrations

2021 ◽  
pp. 838-857
Author(s):  
Feride Zeynep Guder ◽  
Tulay Atay
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Critical Reading ◽  
The Core ◽  
The City ◽  
The Way

This study aims to criticize the definition and misinterpretation of “the East-the Orient” in the scope of Antakya city according to Orientalist approach and to analyze how this approach put into practice by the narration of the Westerners via scrutinizing digital media platforms. To uncover this dominant narration, Said's Orientalist theory has been explored for the main arguments of the study. With the help of cognitive semiotics benchmarks, three digital media platforms are analyzed to indicate how Orientalist perspectives dominate the narration and representation of Antakya. Although the city conveys modern lifestyle and outlook, these perspectives are omitted, and these narrations fail to represent the core and unique characteristics of Antakya. Examples found in digital media prove the lack of such representations, including particularly the absence of images, narrations, and portrayals of inhabitants. In conclusion, close and critical reading of digital tourism genres are recommended, and although these platforms are new and digital, the way they narrate have echoes of the old.

scholarly journals Elephants in the Room: The European Commission’s 2019 Communication on the Rule of Law

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 423-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitry Kochenov
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Critical Reading ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
The Core ◽  
Core Problem ◽  
The Eu

Abstract This contribution honouring Prof. Martin Krygier scholarship provides a brief critical reading of the European Commission’s July 2019 Communication on the Rule of Law (COM(2019) 343 final). It argues that although the Commission’s effort is welcome, the Communication fails to correctly identify the core problem related to the Rule of Law in the EU, which is the constitutional capture in the illiberal regimes. The failure to identify the core problem with unequivocal precision and spell out its key elements as well as dissect its causes undermines the likely effectiveness of the tools proposed by the Commission to address the unnamed and unanalyzed on-going Rule of Law concerns. Consequently, the Communication is lacking in vital essentials, if not vacant at the core.

scholarly journals Notas sobre (ou acordes para) o Noturno do Chile, a tormenta ruidosa de Roberto Bolaño

Scriptorium ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 122
Author(s):  
Diego Lock Farina
Keyword(s):  
Jacques Derrida ◽  
Walter Benjamin ◽  
Critical Reading ◽  
Present Essay ◽  
Aesthetic Labor ◽  
The Gift ◽  
The Face ◽  
Internal Struggle ◽  
Roberto Bolano ◽  
The Voice

Noturno do Chile, de Roberto Bolaño, funciona como uma autêntica máquina literária de denúncia, de afinada ironia e instigante trabalho estético. Tendo como narrador em primeira pessoa um padre extremamente envolvido com a ditadura de Pinochet, a obra opera uma tormenta ruidosa na forma que faz os signos estremecerem, ao passo que contra-assina a voz do próprio narrador que cria. O presente ensaio busca analisar as sutilezas formais que Bolaño desenvolve no controverso combate interno entre as memórias do narrador e a matéria narrada historicamente contextualizada, visando ainda entender como a noção de dom de ouvir, composta por Walter Benjamin e rearticulada por Jacques Derrida, é pertinente para uma leitura crítica do livro, que, por sua vez, invoca debates acerca do problema da alteridade, da afecção, da responsabilidade e, por fim, da ética ante a crueldade e a possibilidade da produção de uma poética da escuta na contemporaneidade. *** Notes about (or chords for) By night in Chile, the noisy storm of Roberto Bolaño ***By night in Chile, by Roberto Bolaño, works as an authentic literary machine of denunciation, of intoned irony and instigating aesthetic labor. Having a priest extremely involved with Pinochet’s dictatorship as a first-person narrator, the text operates a noisy storm in the form that makes the signs shake, while countersigns the voice of the narrator himself who creates. The present essay seeks to analyze the formal subtleties that Bolaño develops in the controversial internal struggle between the narrator’s memories and the historically contextualized narrative matter, in order to understand how the notion of the gift for listening, composed by Walter Benjamin and rearticulated by Jacques Derrida, is pertinent for a critical reading of the book, which, in turn, invokes debates about the problem of alterity, affection, responsibility, and finally, ethics in the face of cruelty and the possibility of producing a poetics of listening in contemporary times.Keywords: By night in Chile; gift for listening; poetics of listening; Roberto Bolaño; alterity.

Propositions II: Approaches to Reciprocity

2019 ◽  
pp. 77-94
Author(s):  
Marcel Hénaff
Keyword(s):  
Social Groups ◽  
The Self ◽  
Social Bond ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Gift ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Seminal Article

This chapter looks at different approaches to the subject of reciprocity. Whereas many philosophers tend to understand reciprocity as a form of equivalence and a return to the self, many theorists in the social sciences—economists included—view it as a synonym of generosity or a figure of altruism. This divergence should lead one to recommend a dialogue between the two fields to avoid such misunderstandings. But above all, this invites one to recognize that the concept of reciprocity is not well defined and that there is a need to clarify its status, which is at the core of philosophical reflections on the relationships with Others, norms of morality, the social bond, and ultimately the gift itself. The chapter then considers what sociology and anthropology can say about the question, since it comes under the purview of those disciplines to investigate the nature of the relationships observed among members of social groups and attempt to define them. In particular, it assesses two authors whose analyses on this point have marked the debates of the past few decades: sociologist Alvin Gouldner, author of a seminal article on the norm of reciprocity; and anthropologist Marshall Sahlins, whose book of record Stone Age Economics dedicates an entire chapter to defining the nature of practices of reciprocity.

“I Feel My True Colors Began to Show.” Designing and Teaching a Course on Improvisation

2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ursel Schlicht
Keyword(s):  
Course Design ◽  
Final Analysis ◽  
The Core ◽  
Core Elements ◽  
True Colors

This article discusses my design and teaching of an interdisciplinary, multi-style course "Improvisation in Music". It discusses fundamental considerations on improvisation and a variety of pedagogical considerations and factors that influenced the course design. After a synopsis of the core elements and topics, each course meeting is described as it happened, and the article concludes with a final analysis of the overall process.

scholarly journals Tracing anthropogenic sources of Tantalum and Niobium in Bothnian Bay sediments, Sweden

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Sutliff-Johansson ◽  
S Pontér ◽  
E Engström ◽  
I Rodushkin ◽  
P Peltola ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electronic Waste ◽  
Temporal Trends ◽  
Final Analysis ◽  
Anthropogenic Sources ◽  
Waste Processing ◽  
The Core ◽  
Hydrous Ferric Oxides ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
Recent Sediments ◽  
Bothnian Bay

Abstract Purpose This study aims to evaluate temporal trends of Tantalum (Ta) and Niobium (Nb) concentrations in northern Baltic Sea sediments with focus on the potential impact from the Rönnskär sulfide ore smelter, located 15 km east of Skellefteå in northern Sweden. The potential of Ta or Nb to serve as tracers for environmental pollution caused by the electronic waste is compared. Lastly, correlations between Ta and Nb concentrations and those of major redox elements are investigated. Methods A 35-cm-deep core was collected in the harbor bay (Kallholmsfjärden) outside of the smelter. A secondary 6-m-deep sediment core was collected in the deep Bothnian Bay for comparative purposes. Element screening analysis was conducted the using ICP-SFMS for the Kallhomsfjärden core and a combination of ICP-SFMS and ICP-OES for the Bothnian Bay core. In the final analysis, a 5-step sequential extraction technique was preformed to allow for better prediction of the fate and mobility of Ta and Nb. Results and discussion In the vicinity of the smelter, Ta concentration increases from 0.42 to 3.8 ppm from the time coinciding with the beginning of electronic waste processing. Conversely, Nb concentration remained stable at background levels throughout the core at 6.33 ± 0.78 ppm. The Nb/Ta ratio thus changed from 14.5 to 1.7, reflecting an increase of anthropogenic input of Ta into the bay sediments. In the pre-industrial part of the sediment, concentrations of both elements follow concentration of aluminosilicates in the core. In recent sediments, however, the anthropogenic Ta exhibits an association with hydrous ferric oxides (HFOs) and organic matter. Conclusions Notable increases in Ta concentrations began following the beginning of scrap metal and electronic waste processing at the Rönnskär smelter. Anthropogenic Ta introduced in the upper portion of the sediment and are more associated with HFOs and organic material than natural Ta seen in the deeper parts of the core where detrital Ta is most common. Niobium was not affected by the Rönnskär smelter and displayed no notable change to the preindustrial background.

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