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Equinox Publishing Ltd 2011, 1 Chelsea Manor Studios, Flood Street, London SW3 5SR

CCP 2.2 (2010) 311312 Comparative and Continental Philosophy (print) ISSN 1757-0638doi:10.1558/ccp.v2i2.311 Comparative and Continental Philosophy (online) ISSN 1757-0646

Te Domestication of Derrida: Rorty, Pragmatism and Deconstruction,by Fabbri, Lorenzo, translated by Daniele Manni, Continuum, 2008.150pp., Hb. $130.00, ISBN-13: 9780826497789.

Reviewed by Shannon M. Mussett, Department o Philosophy and Humani-ties, Utah Valley University, shannon.mussett@uvu.edu

KeywordsDerrida, Rorty, deconstruction, pragmatism

Perhaps it is indicative o my own education in philosophy, but the idea thatanyone could realistically critique deconstruction as apolitical is surprising.

I have always ound Rortys relegation o deconstruction to little more than aquaint parlor trick (and certainly not philosophy) not very persuasive. Derri-dean writing, rom its very beginnings, has challenged, engaged, provoked andproposed politics, even when not explicitly stated. Because o this, I was imme-diately sympathetic to Lorenzo Fabbris book, which charts his own seductionby and subsequent disillusionment with Richard Rortys approach to Derrida.Fabbri takes issue primarily with Rortys privatization o the Derridean projectin Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity. Fabbri challenges the double privacy

Rorty attributes to Derrida. Problematically, Rortys two-old conception pro-motes the reduction o deconstructive writing to a sort o autobiographicaldri[and] the belie that Derrida dismisses the endeavor to engage philoso-phy with political struggle (3). Fabbri investigates both claims on Rortys termsand then proceeds to dismantle them through careul analysis.

Te book is divided into three thematically interrelated chapters. In therst chapter, Fabbri undertakes an explication o Rortys philosophical posi-tion. Fabbri notes that Rorty (like Bloom beore him) assails the tradition othe supposed ironists beginning with Hegel, who take seriously the debt othe past and the historical nature o truth. Unlike thinkers such as Heidegger,Foucault and Hegel, Derridas virtue or Rorty resides in the act that, pragmati-cally speaking, his narrative about philosophy helps stop paying attention to it(44). Te second section addresses Rortys accolades o Derridean philosophi-cal privatization and counters that the private or Derrida is thoroughly con-taminated by the public. In the last section o the book Fabbri rejects Rortysstark division between theory and politics in Derrida and in the humanities ingeneral. Peppered with discussions o Foucault (a particularly rightening bo-

geyman to Rorty) Fabbri gets to the heart o the matter towards the end o hisbook by asking Why is Richard Rorty so araid o deconstruction? (115). Te

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answer, it seems, is that deconstruction let loose rom the walls o the academywill wreak havoc on our best public institutions and our uture-oriented opti-mism. With such a clear project, divided so nicely into a tripartite presentation,

it is a wonder why Fabbri provides no conclusion. As it is, the whole book endsabruptlyreerencing unpredictability, multiplicity and other lovely decon-structive catchphrasesbut ultimately leaving us a little bewildered.

Overall, Fabbris text accomplishes a number o things. First, he manages towrite a scholarly analysis o an intriguing debate in the history o philosophy.Although it may be dicult to see the debate between Rorty and Derrida asalready a thing o the past, Fabbri shows us that it captures the general eelingo the second hal o the twentieth century and the tensions between the conti-

nental and analytic traditions. In so doing, he joins a host o other scholars nowworking to bring these two camps together in a more ruitul dialogue. Addi-tionally, to write clearly on Rorty is one thing, but it is a rare accomplishment towrite so lucidly on Derrida. Fabbris language is coherent and accessible and yetscholarly. He displays a broad knowledge o the history o philosophy and thenuances o the debates surrounding the emergence and efects o deconstruc-tion. Finally, Fabbri manages to do justice to Rortys reading o Derrida (with-out simply claiming that he misread or misunderstood him) while ultimatelyrejecting his oversimplication o Derridean thought.

Fabbris treatment o Rorty is so air that he makes us pause at Rortys alle-gations o Derridean philosophical privatization and its generation o apoliti-cal antasies. Yet, given his nal conclusion that Rortys pragmatism is ercelyconservative and outright dangerous with its techniques o policing and ter-rorization, Fabbri could have spared us a ew o his apologies or the tone ohis critique. Although Rortys reading o Derrida was not without prooundrespect or critical rigor, Fabbri is absolutely right to unveil its political agendao making the status quo bearable, rather than undermining or questioning its

claims to dominance. When Rorty praises Derrida as apolitical and untheo-retical, Fabbri counters, o believe in an unserious Derrida, a Derrida lackingtheories, is to avoid the efort to read him (52). Going one step urther, Fabbrishows us how even someone like Rorty, who clearly went through the efort oreading Derrida, can take his thought and denude it o its radical potential bywalling it up in the academy, ar rom the body politic where it might legiti-mately challenge the norm.