ABSTRACT
One of Pierre Bourdieu's targets in valuing sociology over philosophy is Jacques Derrida. In essence, 'Bourdieu's sociology actually appears to be a sophisticated version of vulgar Marxism'. One of Bourdieu's aims in 'Is a Disinterested Act Possible?' Under focus will be Bourdieu's attempt to replace the 'ethical subject' with the agent of 'ethical' habitus, a manoeuvre that often takes gift exchange, a key concern of Derrida. Bourdieu accuses Derrida's understanding of the gift to rely on the logic of consciousness and the free choice of an isolated individual. By promoting the 'collective hypocrisy' of the paradoxical interested-yet-disinterested ethical act Bourdieu is following in the footsteps of giants of anthropological discourse. The development and promotion of dispositions, habits and duties aimed towards giving the illusion of disinterestedness in the subject should replace the question and investigation of disinterestedness. By doing this one escapes the 'artificial paradoxes' that haunt the work of Derrida.
