Jacques Derrida and the question what is theory?

Misko Suvakovic states that ?Theory or theorization are hybrid genres or polygenres that developed in parallel in artistic, activist and academic circles (France, Great Britain, USA, Eastern Europe) by criticizing autonomous canonical models and institutions of scientific and philosophical work in society, culture and art? (Suvakovic 2008). In this paper, I will look at the question ?What is theory?? by reading the works of Jacques Derrida, Paul de Man and Richard Rorty and starting from the above-mentioned framework of ?theory? defined primarily as a school of thought practiced today dominantly in the academic sphere in the USA. For Derrida, the question ?what is?? is at the basis of all other questions, especially those that govern (governmentality) our understanding of the world, such as questions of truth, consciousness, and subjectivity. These questions have been considered in philosophy in different ways, but the one that is most significant for my topic is the relationship of presence/absence, internal/ external, physis/mimesis viewed through the concept of writing.