Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book offers an account of deconstruction which brings out its deep affinity with the project of enlightened critique set forth by Immanuel Kant and taken up – albeit with significant modifications — by Jurgen Habermas. It addresses related issues in the context of epistemology and philosophy of science. The book also offers some critical reflections on the topic of 'interdiscipiinarity', or the way that increasing specialisation in various disciplines has gone along with calls to redefine, renegotiate, or — at the postmodern-textualist limit — to abolish all boundaries between them. It discusses the work of Paul de Man and his 'indifference to philosophy' or studious flouting of the protocols that normally decide what shall count as an adequate, responsible, or competent reading of philosophic texts.