Graduation Year

2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Ph.D.

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Degree Granting Department

Philosophy

Major Professor

Lee Braver, Ph.D.

Co-Major Professor

Joshua Rayman, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Michael DeJonge, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Douglas Jesseph, Ph.D.

Keywords

deconstruction, Derrida, faith, God, religion, secrecy, responsibility

Abstract

Derrida rethought the metaphysics of presence by deconstructing or rereading texts as literature according to the nonpresent play of différance. I present Derrida’s absolute secret as a distinct figure of nonpresence nowhere hidden and unknowable in principle. This absolute secret is reflected in the secret of literature: literature does not mean to say anything [ne pas vouloir dire]. It is also reflected in the secret of responsibility: every other (one) is every (bit) other [tout autre est tout autre]; one is absolutely responsible, in secret, to every other wholly other in secret. As figures of the nonpresent absolute secret, these secrets of literature and responsibility each defy presence and our desire to know, and so serve as specific examples of Derrida’s broader rethinking of the metaphysics of presence.

I also outline the religious heritage of Derrida’s secret. I show that the mysterium tremendum, frightful mystery, and faith and fear and trembling of Abraham is repeated as the most common and everyday experience of absolute responsibility. I also describe how Abraham’s double secret is the biblical origin and religious heritage of the secret of literature. I claim that Derrida’s absolute secret returns to and repeats this religious secret of Abrahamic faith in God in secret. I develop this thesis further by following a certain negative theology in thinking of God in absolute secret before claiming that this negative thinking is repeated in deconstruction as Derrida’s absolute secret. I conclude by sketching my own view of the return of religion in Derrida in light of my reading of Derrida’s religious secret and addressing some of the scholarship on Derrida’s religious turn.

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