The death penalty I

Jacques Derrida

Edited by
Geoffrey Bennington, Marc Crépon, Thomas Dutoit

University of Chicago Press

2013

Abstract

In this newest installment in Chicago’s series of Jacques Derrida’s seminars, the renowned philosopher attempts one of his most ambitious goals: the first truly philosophical argument against the death penalty. While much has been written against the death penalty, Derrida contends that Western philosophy is massively, if not always overtly, complicit with a logic in which a sovereign state has the right to take a life. Haunted by this notion, he turns to the key places where such logic has been established—and to the place it has been most effectively challenged: literature.

Reviews

• Jack R. Coopey, "J. Derrida, The death penalty I & II" Phenomenological Reviews 4, 2018, pp. 12-12
• Aaron Aquilina, "J. Derrida, The death penalty I & II" Phenomenological Reviews 4, 2018, pp. 13-13