Law of the Text and Performativity in Jacques Derrida

Abstract

The main function of law – its logos and its origin, we could also say – lies in the presence of a normative principle which delimitates what is permitted from what is forbidden, the in-law from the out-law. In this vein, law folds out in the form of a normative order (nómos) which establishes boundaries and delimitates life. Involving a deep re-reading of Derrida’s thought, the Author provides a specific explanation of the performative and prescriptive function of law, analyzing the strict connections which merge together norms and texts, aesthetics and law, trace and presence. The concrete existence of law passes necessarily through the production of a certain meaning given by the context and the action of language: in so doing, the article highlights finally the importance of the deferral of meaning as the primary and truthful origin of being.