Jacques Derrida and the Question of Interpretation

Jacques Derrida emphasized the importance of Husserl and especially his concept of phenomenological reduction for his own philosophical work. A central thesis in this book is that Derridas deconstruction can in fact be understood as a kind of radicalization of the phenomenological reduction. To show this, the author reconstructs Derridas criticism of Husserl, which even as it is inspired by and partly based on Heideggers criticism of phenomenology, can be conceived as applying the method of phenomenological reduction to Husserls phenomenological reduction itself. That the problems of truth, interpretation and reading are crucial not only in his philosophy but also in Derridas concept of literature is elucidated by his Kafka reading and an extended Derridean reading of Kafkas short story In the Penal Colony.