Abstract

"Pharmakon" as writing is ambivalent; it is dangerous as well as safe, it curses as well as cures. In other words, it is both poison and remedy. It forgets and at the same time it remembers. Much of the work of Nietzsche or Derrida can be characterized as "pharmakon" but not in a simple or straightforward sense. Because of the ambivalence of such writing, Nietzsche and Derrida lend themselves understandably but unjustifiably to the humanistic charges that they are destructive or nihilistic. Through an exposition of their texts, I try to show, in relation to Heidegger, who never laughs or dances, how and why these two laughing, dancing, but profound thinkers resort to the "politics" of "pharmakon." The "politics" of "pharmakon" involve a matter of strategy and economy: the economy of existence. The economy of existence always involves two irreconcilable opposing forces which belong together structurally and otherwise. The economy always assumes different forms, such as supplement which is both addition and substitution, or hymen which is both inside and outside, or "pharmakon" which is both poison and remedy, or gay science which is both playfulness and seriousness. To manage this multiform economy which has been rendered precarious because of the undecidability, Nietzsche and Derrida have developed a plurality of styles. Through these playful and serious economic operations, Nietzschean/Derridian deconstruction opens up the possibility of possibilities where closure would have otherwise been the case. This possibility of possibilities, which calls for work and responsibility, is usually awesome, but it can and does inspire us to live. However, Derrida and Nietzsche, in spite of being highly and fundamentally critical of the metaphysical tradition, do not dispense with it. Rather, they appropriate it in very unique ways. They try to resituate the tradition not by working around it or working without it but through it, and beyond it