ABSTRACT
It was a Cambridge affair, yet, as the Regent House was deciding whether or not to award an honorary degree to the French philosopher Jacques Derrida, it was never simply or solely so. Derrida’s candidacy (and the fact that his proposal came from outside the Philosophy Faculty) had aroused strong feelings within the University, and the ensuing rumpus attracted wide interest from both the national and international media. Academic opposition to politicians receiving such degrees was rare but at least familiar enough. But a philosopher? What was this smoke from the ivory towers? ‘Dons Ditch Deconstructionist’ might have looked good, if only the lexical background had a circulation approximating that of the newspapers. In fact the event was such that it was not only journalists who sought simplicity where there is none. From the start it was academics (‘certain academics’ as Derrida carefully but pointedly stressed later1) who most dramatically violated the very standards of intellectual responsibility in whose name the non placet had been voiced.
