The Rhetoric of Drugs

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The Rhetoric of Drugs is a 1989 work by French philosopher Jaques Derrida. Derrida, interviewed, discusses the concept of "drug", and says that "Already one must conclude that the concept of drug is a non-scientific concept, that it is instituted on the basis of moral or political evaluations."[1] In his philosophical-linguistic analysis, Derrida unmasks the socio-cultural mystifications made on the discourses on drugs.

Rita Levi Montalcini was bothered by Derrida work and commented: "my impression is that this guy amuses himself quibbling, in order to appear original".[2]

Derrida also discusses the problem of drug use by athletes. Exploring its confines, he says: "and what about women athletes who get pregnant for the stimulating, hormonal effects and then have an abortion after their event?"[3]

Derrida discusses how the link between the rhetoric of drugs and the Western ideology. He also says that "Adorno and Horkheimer correctly point out that drug culture has always been associated with the West's other, with Oriental ethics and religion",[4][5] and adds: "The Enlightenment [...] is in itself a declaration of war on drugs."[4]

Contents

[edit] Editions

This interview was made in 1989. An published more then one time as a journal article. It was included in the Derrida's 1992 book Points de suspension. Entretiens, as section XIV. The English edition of Points de suspension. Entretiens, titled Points: Interviews 1974-1994 (1995), contained the interview at pp. 228-254, as the final part of the chapter Autobiophotographies.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Eng. 1995, p.229
  2. ^ Ma la droga non e' solo una parola, article published by Corriere della Sera
  3. ^ Eng. 1995, p.248 original: "Et la pratique des athlètes femmes qui provoquent une grossesse dont les effets endocriniens sont «dopants» et qui avortent après l’épreuve?"
  4. ^ a b Eng. 1995, p.250
  5. ^ Theodor W. Adorno and Max Horkheimer [1944] Dialectic of Enlightenment (French translation by E. Kaufholz, Gallimard, 1974, p. 75-76)

[edit] See also

[edit] Links

v • d • e
Jacques Derrida
Interviews collections
Positions (1972) · The Rhetoric of Drugs (1989) · Points de suspension. Entretiens (1992) · Points: Interviews 1974-1994 (1995)
Essays

Early: The Problem of Genesis in Husserl's Philosophy (1953) · Introduction to Husserl's The Origin of Geometry (1962)

1967: Of Grammatology · Speech and Phenomena · Writing and Difference

1972: Dissemination · Margins of Philosophy

1973-1980: The Archeology of the Frivolous: Reading Condillac (1973) · Glas (1974) · Spurs: Nietzsche's Styles · The Truth in Painting · The Post Card: From Socrates to Freud and Beyond

1982-8: The Ear of the Other (1982) · Of an Apocalyptic Tone Recently Adopted in Philosophy (1983) · Ulysses Gramophone (1984) · Two Words for Joyce (1984) · Of Spirit (1987) · Psyche: Inventions of the Other (Vol. I, 1987) · Choral Work (1988) · Limited Inc. (1988)

1990s: Acts of Literature (1991) · The Gift of Death (1992) · Specters of Marx (1993) · Archive Fever (1995)
Concepts

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