The Ethics of Writing: Derrida, Deconstruction, and Pedagogy

In this compelling and timely treatise, cultural theorist and educator Peter Trifonas puts forth the first book-length study of Jacques Derrida's "educational texts": that is, those writings most explicitly concerned with the ethics and politics of the historico- philosophical structures constituting the scene of teaching. “The Ethics of Writing” engages these aspects of Derrida's work on the institution of education, especially as it relates to the philosopher's association with the GREPH (Groupe de Recherches sur l'Enseignement Philosophiques) and the public movement to protect the teaching of Philosophy in France. Trifonas addresses the importance of deconstruction as a means of carrying-out analyses of pedagogical institutions and structures for the purpose of achieving ethical reforms of educational policy and curricular initiatives. More specifically, the text examines how deconstruction allows us to re-think the socio-historical and ethico-philosophical aspects of pedagogical practices and policies, including pedagogical theories that have had direct bearing on the ethical and cultural ideals forming the reason of Western educational systems and the exclusion of its "Others."