Death and Gift
In this paper, I shall attempt to account for some of the main features of the philosophy of Jacques Derrida by an examination of the closely related themes of death and gift. I shall begin by exploring the way in which Derrida's interpretation of death, the dead, and what is spent has evolved through critical interpretations of philosophers such as Husserl and Rousseau. This analysis will form the background for a consideration of a significant turn in his thought which emerges when he turns his attention from the centrality of death in human experience to reflection upon the theme of life as gift.