Abstract. This essay argues a case for viewing Derrida's work in the context of recent French epistemology and philosophy of science; more specifically, the critical-rationalist approach exemplified by thinkers such as Bachelard and Canguilhem.
I trace this line of descent principally through Derrida's essay ‘White Mythology: Metaphor in the Text of Philosophy’. My conclusions are
(1) that we get Derrida wrong if we read him as a fargone antirealist for whom there is nothing ‘outside the text’;
(2) that he provides some powerful counter-arguments to this and other items of current postmodern wisdom;
(3) that deconstruction is more aptly viewed as continuing the epistemo-critical approach developed by thinkers like Bachelard; and (4) that it also holds important lessons for philosophy of science in the mainstream Anglo- American ‘analytic’ tradition.
Abstract. This essay argues a case for viewing Derrida's work in the context of recent French epistemology and philosophy of science; more specifically, the critical-rationalist approach exemplified by thinkers such as Bachelard and Canguilhem.
I trace this line of descent principally through Derrida's essay ‘White Mythology: Metaphor in the Text of Philosophy’. My conclusions are
(1) that we get Derrida wrong if we read him as a fargone antirealist for whom there is nothing ‘outside the text’;
(2) that he provides some powerful counter-arguments to this and other items of current postmodern wisdom;
(3) that deconstruction is more aptly viewed as continuing the epistemo-critical approach developed by thinkers like Bachelard; and (4) that it also holds important lessons for philosophy of science in the mainstream Anglo- American ‘analytic’ tradition.