“There is always Aufhebung.” Derrida’s reading of Hegel before Glas

Abstract

This article aims to reconstruct Jacques Derrida’s relationship to Hegelian philosophy as established prior to the publication of Glas (1974). During the late 1960s, a moment in whi­ch the philosophical context was marked by a strong anti-Hegelianism, Derrida’s deconstru­ction was received as the opposite of Hegel’s speculative idealism. While this opposition became the most accepted version of the French philosopher’s position towards Hegel, there are discernible affinities between the two thinkers. This paper analyzes the texts dedicated to Hegel before 1974: “Le problème de la genèse dans la phénomenologie de Husserl”, “De l’économie restreinte à l’économie générale. Un hégélianisme sans réserve” and “Le Puits et la pyramide. Introduction à la sémiologie de Hegel”. It demonstrates that despite an appa­rent explicit rejection of dialectical thinking, Derrida consistently acknowledged its relevan­ce, declaring a unilateral break as impossible, and, at least during the early stages of his ca­reer, conceived the possibility of a deconstructive interpretation of Hegel’s thought.

Keywords

• jacques derrida
• hegel
• anti-hegelianism
• dialectics
• french philosophy
• aufhebung
• deconstruction