The Institute of Philosophy at Seoul National University is pleased to host Minho Kim, lecturer at Seoul National University, for the 2nd session of the 3rd Colloquium on Trends in Contemporary Philosophy. The lecture will be on the topic, "The End of the Book and Derrida’s ‘Endless Preface’." We invite all interested to attend.

• Date & Time: Monday, September 30, 2024, 4:00–6:00 PM
• Venue: Room 403, Building 6, College of Humanities (Institute of Philosophy and Thought)
• Speaker: Minho Kim, Lecturer (Seoul National University)
• Topic: The End of the Book and Derrida’s ‘Endless Preface'

Lecture Overview:

Since at least the 1980s, Derrida began writing increasingly experimental and playful texts, often adopting the form of a preface. This study first explores why Derrida used the preface as a space for textual experimentation and argues that, for him, the preface became both an impossible writing form after the "end of the book" (as he proclaimed) and the only permissible one. Derrida’s primary philosophical interlocutor in this context is Hegel. Hegel, though seeking to avoid writing prefaces for different reasons than Derrida, paradoxically found himself compelled to write even more prefaces in order to transcend them. This study examines Derrida’s reading of Hegel's performative contradiction and uncovers why Derrida continually engaged in writing endless prefaces. Lastly, the research situates this "endless preface" within the broader, long-term development of Derrida’s thought, which is often described in terms of a "turn."

Speaker Introduction:

Minho Kim is a lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at Seoul National University. He completed his undergraduate studies in law at Seoul National University and wrote his master’s thesis on Descartes’ The Passions of the Soul. He later earned his Ph.D. from the Research Laboratory of Contemporary Philosophy (LLCP) at Paris 8 University, focusing on the development of Derrida’s thought from grammatology to hauntology. His published works include papers such as “Derrida’s Genesis Problem as Primordial Thought,” “A ‘Derridean’ Reading of the Foucault-Derrida Debate on Madness,” and “Jacques Derrida’s Philosophy as a Negative Apophatic Theology.” He has also authored books including Derrida and History: An Introduction to Derrida’s Philosophy and The Storyteller and the Player (co-edited), and When the Scroll Stops (co-edited). In addition, he has translated Derrida’s works into Korean, including Taste for the Secret and The Post Card.