Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies, vol. 18, issue 54 (Winter 2019): 18-32.
ISSN: 1583-0039 © SACRI
CAMIL UNGUREANU
JACQUES DERRIDA ON RELIGION AND UNIVERSALIZING FAITH:
A CRITICAL APPRAISAL
Abstract: This article examines critically Jacques Derrida’s view of religion and sacrificial
ethics as placed between Immanuel Kant’s and Søren Kierkegaard’s conceptions of faith. To
overcome their one-sidedness, Derrida advances a paradoxical view of religion and ethics
that entails the undialecticizable tension between a universalizing (Kantian) “moment”
and a singularizing (Kierkegaardian) one. I will propose, first, a reading of Derrida’s
conception that is neither atheist nor religious. Second, I will argue that Derrida’s
transformative deconstruction of religion and ethics is suggestive but not persuasive: in
particular, Derrida’s quasi-transcendental argumentative strategy in favor of a
universalizing faith replaces the “essence” with a unique paradox. The resulting
paradoxology remains metaphysical and ahistorical: disregarding the historical evolution
of religious imagination (Bellah, 2017), Derrida monothematically injects philosophical
abstractions into the heart of communicative practices. Moreover, I argue that, Derrida’s
concern with otherness notwithstanding, it is parochial and at odds with ethical and
religious pluralism.
Key words: religion, faith, ethics, paradox, Jacques Derrida, Immanuel Kant, Søren
Kierkeegard.
Camil Ungureanu
Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain.
Email: camil.ungureanu@upf.edu