Think of Derrida's 'Ends of Man'. In it, Derrida, commenting on a colloquium theme in which he was invited to speak in 1968, investigates the possibility of a 'philosophical anthropology', the bringing together of philosophy and anthropology. Derrida is deeply skeptical of such a prospect of arriving at an anthropology that is not wholly determined by the interests of the West. This is Heidegger's question: the essence of man and technology. The West tries to 'interiorize' its difference with other cultures - it tries to find a universality of 'the anthropos'. However, Derrida argues that colloquium is always political; the one in which he is speaking at is no different. Philosophers always question the claim to universality, 'official policy'. This gesture is tangible in the difference many philosophers feel with their nationalities.

But Derrida's concern with these questions is perhaps even broader than Heidegger's.

¶ 2:16 PM