Revisiting Plato's Pharmacy: Derrida, Stiegler, and Malabou

Abstract

In this text, I propose to revisit Jacques Derrida “Plato's Pharmacy” in its main arguments and provide an analysis based on two important receptions and developments of Derridean thought – by Bernard Stiegler and Catherine Malabou. Firstly, I divide the text into four scenes to demonstrate its logical ordering and rigorous nature of its argument: (1) accepting assumptions of Plato’s text; (2) assuming hierarchy following the argument; (3) reversing hierarchy with contradictions and contaminations; (4) dissolving the opposition with a transversal concept (pharmakon). Afterward, I mention the theoretical proposal of Bernard Stiegler, presenting his reception of “Plato’s Pharmacy” and pointing problems of such reception since – after integrating technique/writing into philosophy – gradually, as the work progresses, Stiegler leans towards a Eurocentric Nous. Finally, I present Catherine Malabou thought as another post-deconstructive path that develops at the level of form, placing the brain as an axis of problematization that allows dualisms to be overcome, Eurocentrism reinvigorated with the restoration of Nous, and exploring new paths