Abstract

Michel Henry’s “Destruction ontologique” does not interpret itself. In the following interpretive essay, I will attempt to articulate its basic structure, to address its principal engagements, and, on this basis, to interpret its defining themes and positions. In the course of this attempt, I will comment also on the importance of this work in the context of Henry’s œuvre, and contemporary scholarship thereupon. One need not accept every assertion, or agree with every position, in this article to recognize its importance. This importance is both greater, and different, than the reader may expect.