Humanism and Its Aftermath - The Shared Fate of Deconstruction and Politics (Hardcover)

Against more aestheticized versions of deconstructive politics, Martin argues for a more engaged deconstruction, one which grapples with actual social institutions and practices while not compromising in its articulation of the difficulties of Jacques Derrida's texts. Using more revolutionary and unorthodox theories and practices of Marxism as a standard for engaged theory, the author asks if radical deconstruction can develop a sense of urgency without falling into the reductivism and narrowly interest-oriented utilitarianism of more orthodox forms of Marxism. The book develops significant encounters with the work of Susan Bordo, Jean-Luc Nancy, Alex Callinicos, as well as Bataille, Blanchot, Foucault, Habermas and Rorty. However, the larger aim of the book is to reground the politics of anti-imperialism and internationalism in a post-Eurocentric frame. The work is a most extended engagement on deconstruction and social theory, of interest to social theorists, scholars, and those interested in the ethical and political implications of the work of Jacques Derrida.