From Life to Survival

Robert Trumbull teaches Philosophy at Seattle University.Robert Trumbull teaches Philosophy at Seattle University.

Robert Trumbull’s new book is a fascinating exploration of the relationship between the two thinkers.

Trumbull’s book distinguishes itself by the ambitious scope of its argument, which undertakes a new understanding of the status of life throughout Derrida’s work. Through original argument, he reconstructs a Derridean concept of life (life death) as made possible by a trace that runs throughout Derrida’s work, from his early texts on Husserl, through responses to psychoanalysis, Nietzsche and Heidegger, to the more obviously “political” work, such as Derrida’s writing on the death penalty. Trumbull’s exploration of the normative aspects of Derrida’s work is informed by an innovative account of the status of norms within vitalism and Foucauldian biopower, producing a new understanding of deconstructive politics.---Penelope Deutscher, Northwestern University