Stella Gaon provides the first fully philosophical account of the critical nature of deconstruction, and she does so by turning in an original way to psychoanalysis.

Stella Gaon is Professor of Political Science and Adjunct Professor of Women and Gender Studies at Saint Mary's University. She is the editor of Democracy in Crisis: Violence, Alterity, Community.

Introduction Part 1: Naming the Stakes 1. The Danger of Rhetoric 2. The Apocalyptic Tone of Philosophy 3. Redefining the "Postmodern" 4. Deconstructing Kantian Critique Part 2: The Ends of Education 5. From "Neo" to "Post": Strategies in Theory 6. Neomodernist Critical Pedagogies 7. Pedagogy without Foundations: Feminism and Anti-Racism 8. The Habermasian Gambit: A Critique of Discourse Ethics Part 3: On Deconstruction and Justice 9. Responsibility as Messianic Injunction 10. Derrida Contra Levinas 11. Conscience and the Aporia of Subjectivity 12. The Desire for Reason Conclusion: The Risk of a Certain Critique