much of this inheritance is not actively chosen: we are thrown into our heritage; in Derrida’s terms, it “violently elects us.” But this is not the end of the story. Derrida reminds us that in any act of inheritance there is also transformation. He is primarily interested in what it means to inherit traditions, languages, and cultures, and he notes that while all continue from generation to generation, they are living heritages not fixed once and for all. It is this “double injunction” at the heart of inheritance that Derrida emphasizes, describing the act of inheritance as one of
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