Derrida’s Voice and Phenomenon

Thsi is the essential toolkit for anyone reading this seminal Derrida text for the first time. Published in 1967, Voice and Phenomenon marked a crucial turning point in Derrida’s thinking: the culmination of a 15-year-long engagement with the phenomenological tradition. It also introduced the concepts and themes that would become deconstruction. Voice and Phenomenon is a short book, but it can be an overwhelming text, particularly for inexperienced readers of Derrida’s work. This is the first guide to clearly explain the structure of his argument, step by step. It introduces you to Derrida’s historical context, with special attention to the importance of Husserl’s thought. It provides careful, critical commentary of his text from start to finish, explaining the key arguments and problems as you go. It shows how the concepts used in Voice and Phenomenon paved the way for Derrida’s future works. It includes a glossary, further reading and descriptions of some of Derrida’s ethical and political concepts from his later writings.