The Dialectic of Nihilism: Post-Structuralism and Law

by Gillian Rose

This book fundamentally challenges the radical credentials of post-structuralism. Though Derrida, Foucault and Deleuze claim to have 'deconstructed' metaphysics, their work has much in common with previous attempts to 'end' the metaphysical tradition, from Kant to Nietzsche and Heidegger, and by sociology in general. Gillian Rose shows that this anti-metaphysical writing always appears in historically specific jurisprudential terms, which themselves found and recapitulate metaphysical categories. She reconsiders post-structuralism in this light and assesses the relationship between deconstruction and the earlier structuralism of Saussure and Levi-Strauss. She argues in conclusion that the choice between post-structuralist nihilism and Hegelian and Marxist dialectic is spurious.

Genres: Philosophy

232 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Gillian Rose (20 September 1947 – 9 December 1995) was a British scholar who worked in the fields of philosophy and sociology. Notable facets of this social philosopher's work include criticism of neo-Kantianism and post-modernism, along with what has been described as "a forceful defence of Hegel's speculative thought."

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[JB · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far, so good. Looks like a pretty solid skewering of post-modernism and post-structuralism. The crux seems to be that metaphysics is inescapable because even attempts to escape it require reference to it... thus invalidating the Heraclitean approach of everyone who followed in Nietzsche's footsteps.

[Shulamith Farhi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Necessary reading for contextualizing a constellation of thinkers that is often caricatured by both supporters and detractors. The chapters on Heidegger and Foucault are illuminating and the polemics against Deleuze and Derrida hit their mark. The reading of Hermann Cohen in the roundup of Neo-Kantians is especially interesting.