Review

"An imaginative and bold account of one of the most influential intellectual movements of the late twentieth century." Paul Patton, University of New South Wales "Williams establishes himself as one of the foremost English-language interpreters of French thought and presents a judicious evaluation of the poststructuralist movement as a whole." Daniel W. Smith, Purdue University

Product Description

Understanding Poststructuralism is a lucid guide to some of the most exciting and controversial ideas in contemporary thought. James Williams examines the key works of the movement's most important theorists - Foucault, Derrida, Kristeva, Lyotard, and Deleuze - providing detailed summaries of their main points and a critical analysis of their core arguments. In jargon-free prose, he explains such ideas as deconstruction, libidinal economics, genealogy, and transcendental empiricism in terms of their value to critical thinking and to contemporary issues. Although a sympathetic interpreter of poststructuralism, Williams does not dismiss the criticism of analytic philosophers but provides a much-needed balanced assessment of this movement.