«Overcoming dialectics» and the semantic space of economic metaphor in J. Derrida’s philosophy of difference: toward the value dimension of deconstruction

The article discusses the conceptual design of the semantic space of economic metaphor proposed in J. Derrida’s philosophy in the context of its demarcation with the dialectical interpretation. The purpose of this work is to show how Derrida mixes under one idiom (the «economy of difference» or simply «différance») several meanings of «economy», conflicting, but functionally correlated with each other, and also, through revealing this point, to bring to the question of the value foundations of deconstructivist thinking. For this, the study employs a comparative analysis of texts by Derrida and some authors from whom he borrows and transforms the economic metaphor in the context of criticism of dialectical method of philosophizing (G. Bataille and E. Levinas). Derrida’s philosophy, by reconfiguring dialectical economy, rethinks the economic metaphor and brings out non-dialectical Difference as an independent philosophical project. The article, while also referring to F. Laruelle’s commentary, establishes that the pairing of conflicting meanings of economy, only from which a pure Difference can be obtained, is achieved by Derrida through an active balancing or shifting of emphasis in a newly understandable economic metaphor (economy and dialectic are sometimes surmountable, sometimes necessary). The principle according to which, due to this rearrangement, the semantic space of «economy» is organized, also indicates the presence of certain value preconditions in deconstruction. The results of the analysis open up prospects for exploring the question of the role of values in deconstruction. For example, it is possible to continue research with a deeper analysis of Derrida’s and Levinas’s projects in the context of the ethical questions of their philosophy.