•  
  •  
 

Document Type

Article

Abstract

[Editors' Introduction]

The paper takes its cue from a brief but pointed passage in Specters of Marx, in which Jacques Derrida describes as "latecomers" those who discuss the apocalypse in a manner that disregards previous discussions of the theme within philosophy and theory. Especially concerned with tracing Derrida's wariness of the beguilements of narratives of the end, Callus and Herbrecther analyze the implications of that wariness for any study of the vexed relation between the apocalyptic and the posthuman, doing so on the basis of reference to a number of the relevant essays by Derrida, but in particular to "On a Newly Arisen Apocalyptic Tone in Philosophy." The main contribution of the paper, however, occurs once it is suggested that in recent work by Derrida the previously strong suspicion of the apocalyptic has become modulated by a different "tone" -- that of Derrida's essay on September 11th, "Autoimmunity: Real and Symbolic Suicides." Contrasting tonalities discernible in "Autoimmunity" with Derrida's previous discussions of the apocalyptic, Callus and Herbrechter argue that Derrida's response to September 11 provides both the cue and the scope for an intriguing and urgent rethinking of his well-known views on "newisms," "postisms," and "seismisms." They suggest that, if it is arguable that there might be "a change or a rupture in tone" in Derrida's approach to what might broadly be regarded as the posthumanous, it might also be viable to think that there might have arisen a worrying punctuality in those whose talk on the apocalyptic might previously have come across, to Derrida and to others, as the prattle of "latecomers." Hence, if "we" do the apocalypse differently, "now," it is because it might well have become timelier to do so.

Download

Share

COinS