Deconstructing Undecidability: Derrida, Justice, and Religious Discourse

Michael Oliver

doi:10.5771/9781978704398

Summary

Advancing current readings of the deconstructive work of Jacques Derrida, Deconstructing Undecidability critically explores the problematic nature of decision, including the inherent exclusivity that accompanies any decision. In discourses where a pursuit of justice or liberation from systemic oppression is a primary concern, Michael Oliver argues for an appreciation of the inescapability of making limited, difficult decisions for particular forms of justice. Oliver highlights a similarly precarious predicament in the context of philosophical and religious negotiations of divine decision, pointing to the impossibility of safely navigating this issue. While wholeheartedly affirming the problem of exclusivity that inevitably accompanies decision, this book offers a renewed sense of undecidability that highlights a mistaken, illusory position of indecision as a reflection of power and privilege. Ultimately, this book aims to gain a greater appreciation for the complexity of the problem of decision, in order to be more rigorous and transparent in our continued engagement with it.

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Bibliographic data

Edition: 1/2020
Copyright Year: 2020
ISBN-Print: 978-1-9787-0438-1
ISBN-Online: 978-1-9787-0439-8
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 241
Product Type: Monograph

1. Contents No access
2. Acknowledgments No access
Introduction No access Pages 1 - 14
1. 1 Religion sans Exclusivity, “Perhaps” No access
2. 2 Rereading Undecidability No access
1. 3 The Injustice of Exclusivity No access
2. 4 The Injustice of Indecision No access
1. 5 Un/Avoidable Divine Decision No access
2. 6 Un/Avoidable Human Decisions about Divine Decision No access
Conclusion No access Pages 209 - 228
Bibliography No access Pages 229 - 236
Index No access Pages 237 - 240
About the Author No access Pages 241 - 241