• Eckhart, Derrida, and The Gift of Love

    Author(s):
    David Newheiser (see profile)
    Date:
    2012
    Subject(s):
    Philosophy, Continental, Ethics, Religion, Middle Ages, Negative theology, Religion--Philosophy
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    Continental philosophy, Medieval religion, Philosophy of religion
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/M6VJ8F
    Abstract:
    This paper argues that Jacques Derrida and Meister Eckhart both construe love as a gift that is entirely free of economic exchange, and both conclude on this basis that love cannot be grasped or identified. In my reading, Eckhart and Derrida do not rule out consideration of one’s own well-being, but their accounts do entail that calculated self-protection is external to love. For this reason, they suggest, lovers should not expect to balance love against a prudential restraint: although both demands are indelible, they function at different levels. A gift of this sort is ineluctably dangerous, but Derrida and Eckhart suggest that unsettling darkness must be endured in order to preserve the possibility of love.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Pub. DOI:
    10.1111/j.1468-2265.2012.00754.x
    Publisher:
    Wiley-Blackwell
    Pub. Date:
    2012-3-22
    Journal:
    The Heythrop Journal
    Volume:
    56
    Issue:
    6
    Page Range:
    1010 - 1021
    ISSN:
    0018-1196
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    6 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved

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