If I Only Did What I Can

My Most Resolute Opponents Believe That I Am Too Visible, That I Am A Little Too Alive, That My Name Echoes Too Much In The Texts Which They Nevertheless Claim To Be Inaccessible.

There Is A Future Which Is Predictable, Programmed, Scheduled, Foreseeable. But There Is A Future, L'avenir (to Come) Which Refers To Someone Who Comes Whose Arrival Is Totally Unexpected. For Me, That Is The Real Future. That Which Is Totally Unpredictable. The Other Who Comes Without My Being Able To Anticipate Their Arrival. So If There Is A Real Future, Beyond The Other Known Future, It Is L'avenir In That It Is The Coming Of The Other When I Am Completely Unable To Foresee Their Arrival.

The Only Attitude (the Only Politics--judicial, Medical, Pedagogical And So Forth) I Would Absolutely Condemn Is One Which, Directly Or Indirectly, Cuts Off The Possibility Of An Essentially Interminable Questioning, That Is, An Effective And Thus Transforming Questioning.

I Never Give In To The Temptation To Be Difficult Just For The Sake Of Being Difficult. That Would Be Too Ridiculous.

There Is No Rigorous And Effective Deconstruction Without The Faithful Memory Of Philosophies And Literatures, Without The Respectful And Competent Reading Of Texts Of The Past, As Well As Singular Works Of Our Own Time. Deconstruction Is Also A Certain Thinking About Tradition And Context. Mark Taylor Evokes This With Great Clarity In The Course Of A Remarkable Introduction. He Reconstitutes A Set Of Premises Without Which No Deconstruction Could Have Seen The Light Of Day.