Derrida's Secret

A new philosophical reflection on the secret and its importance to our contemporary political experience The Snowden Affair, Wikileaks, the ‘lone wolf’ terrorist, Clinton’s private email account – the secret is arguably the central element of our contemporary political experience. Now, Charles Barbour looks at the basic ontological question ‘what is a secret?’ Organised as a reflection on Jacques Derrida’s later writings on secrecy, four chapters each look at a separate problematic: society and the oath, literature and testimony, philosophy and deception, and time and death. Barbour shows that secrecy is not a negation of our relations with others, but a necessary condition of those relations. We can only reveal ourselves to one another (and, indeed, to anything other) insofar as we conceal as well. Key Features Provides a new philosophical reflection on the question of the secret, and its importance to contemporary political experience Develops a unique reading of the later work of the philosopher Jacques Derrida, and of his largely overlooked discussions of the secret in his later writings and seminars Initiates a new method of approaching Derrida’s work – one that rejects obscurity and reveals the lucidity of his thought Compares Derrida’s work with that of the German sociologist Georg Simmel, and thus argues for the significance of Derrida’s work for sociology Connects Derrida’s work to a series of philosophical debates in the Analytic tradition, such as the problems of consciousness, self-deception, and other minds Compares Derrida’s work on the secret with a series of other important political thinkers, including Deleuze, Schmitt, Arendt, Bataille and Agamben. Keywords: Secrecy, Law, Oath, Testimony, Jacques Derrida, Georg Simmel Subject: philosophy