Introduction

histories of the gift and desire

pp. 1-38

in: Jason Alvis, Marion and Derrida on the gift and desire, Berlin, Springer, 2016

Abstract

This chapter provides a brief historical backdrop to both topics of "the gift" and "desire" especially in French philosophy in the twentieth century, and initiates an engagement on thinking how the two topics can be thought simultaneously in order to ultimately shed further light on the distinctions between deconstructive phenomenology, and "classical" phenomenology. Here, the basic claims of the book are proposed. Derrida rejects desire from playing a role in any "happening" or "event" of the gift, most especially because desire is an economically appropriated concept, which is antithetical to the aneconomical gift that he claims to be essential to deconstruction. Instead, the gift must remain "impossible." Whereas for Marion, intentionality is distinct from desire, which is of great interest to him and can play a number of roles in his approach to the gift, the adonné, and givenness. Thus, Marion's phenomenology marks a unique union between gift and desire. Such an argument allows for a more detailed understanding of the differences between Derrida's deconstruction and Marion's phenomenology.