Between Blindness and Touching. Jacques Derrida and Jean-Luc Nancy on the Self-Portrait

The paper analyzes Jacques Derrida’s and Jean-Luc Nancy’s concept of the self-portrait. It is argued that Nancy builds on Derrida’s approach but introduces two decisive modifications. Firstly, he develops the emergence of the painter on the canvas as constitution of the self – an aspect Derrida does...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Labyrinth: An International Journal for Philosophy, Value Theory and Sociocultural Hermeneutics Vol. 22; no. 2; pp. 60 - 73
Main Author: Meer, Julia
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
German
Published: Axia Academic Publishers 17.02.2021
Subjects:
derrida, nancy, self-portrait, différance, art theory
ISSN:2410-4817, 1561-8927
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Abstract The paper analyzes Jacques Derrida’s and Jean-Luc Nancy’s concept of the self-portrait. It is argued that Nancy builds on Derrida’s approach but introduces two decisive modifications. Firstly, he develops the emergence of the painter on the canvas as constitution of the self – an aspect Derrida does not consider. Secondly, Nancy understands portraying – and thus images – on the basis of touching. In contrast, Derrida conceives portraying as coming from the invisible and two forms of blindness. In doing so, he remains ex negativo in a tradition which links images to vision, whereas Nancy tries to overcome it. Nancy’s alterations not only lead to a modified theory of the self-portrait but also refine Derrida’s influential concept of différance by highlighting its corporeal and ontological dimension.  
AbstractList The paper analyzes Jacques Derrida’s and Jean-Luc Nancy’s concept of the self-portrait. It is argued that Nancy builds on Derrida’s approach but introduces two decisive modifications. Firstly, he develops the emergence of the painter on the canvas as constitution of the self – an aspect Derrida does not consider. Secondly, Nancy understands portraying – and thus images – on the basis of touching. In contrast, Derrida conceives portraying as coming from the invisible and two forms of blindness. In doing so, he remains ex negativo in a tradition which links images to vision, whereas Nancy tries to overcome it. Nancy’s alterations not only lead to a modified theory of the self-portrait but also refine Derrida’s influential concept of différance by highlighting its corporeal and ontological dimension.  
The paper analyzes Jacques Derrida’s and Jean-Luc Nancy’s concept of the self-portrait. It is argued that Nancy builds on Derrida’s approach but introduces two decisive modifications. Firstly, he develops the emergence of the painter on the canvas as constitution of the self – an aspect Derrida does not consider. Secondly, Nancy understands portraying – and thus images – on the basis of touching. In contrast, Derrida conceives portraying as coming from the invisible and two forms of blindness. In doing so, he remains ex negativo in a tradition which links images to vision, whereas Nancy tries to overcome it. Nancy’s alterations not only lead to a modified theory of the self-portrait but also refine Derrida’s influential concept of différance by highlighting its corporeal and ontological dimension.
Author Meer, Julia
Author_xml – sequence: 1
  givenname: Julia
  surname: Meer
  fullname: Meer, Julia
BookMark eNo9kF1LwzAUhoMoOOcuvc8f6MxH27SXbn5tDBWceBlOk9Mto6aadMr-vaUT4cDLeV94Lp4Lcupbj4RccTYVGS_YdbObfgvhxFRIdUJGPMt5UpRCnZKRSDlL0oKrczKJ0VWMSc77K0fkfYbdD6Kns8Z56zFGCt7Sdbs3W-c3U7oE87XHSG8xBGdhWJcIPlntDX0Cbw609bTbIn3Fpk5e2tAFcN0lOauhiTj5yzF5u79bzx-T1fPDYn6zSgxPpUpMIY0tATFnildcsaxIgRljWVXK3IrSmlxVQgEUJu_7WmEhZa5EzvtPMDkmiyPXtrDTn8F9QDjoFpweijZsNITOmQa1AislVpnJpEiVqqA0Gdq6NrlUQgys5MgyoY0xYP3P40wPknWz04Nk3UuWv-6IcPc
ContentType Journal Article
DBID AAYXX
CITATION
DOA
DOI 10.25180/lj.v22i2.237
DatabaseName CrossRef
Directory of Open Access Journals
DatabaseTitle CrossRef
DatabaseTitleList CrossRef
Database_xml – sequence: 1
  dbid: DOA
  name: DOAJ Directory of Open Access Journals
  url: https://www.doaj.org/
  sourceTypes: Open Website
DeliveryMethod fulltext_linktorsrc
EISSN 1561-8927
EndPage 73
ExternalDocumentID oai_doaj_org_article_7ad33eb5c532477ba9c5edffc6372220
10_25180_lj_v22i2_237
GroupedDBID AAYXX
ADBBV
ALMA_UNASSIGNED_HOLDINGS
BCNDV
CITATION
GROUPED_DOAJ
ID FETCH-LOGICAL-c1437-c83cd9aee6071b170584a0ccd0b936d29dc67b27aa8c60ccf7e833672610cc203
IEDL.DBID DOA
ISSN 2410-4817
IngestDate Fri Oct 03 12:18:51 EDT 2025
Sat Nov 29 06:51:33 EST 2025
IsDoiOpenAccess true
IsOpenAccess true
IsPeerReviewed true
IsScholarly true
Issue 2
Language English
German
License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
LinkModel DirectLink
MergedId FETCHMERGED-LOGICAL-c1437-c83cd9aee6071b170584a0ccd0b936d29dc67b27aa8c60ccf7e833672610cc203
OpenAccessLink https://doaj.org/article/7ad33eb5c532477ba9c5edffc6372220
PageCount 14
ParticipantIDs doaj_primary_oai_doaj_org_article_7ad33eb5c532477ba9c5edffc6372220
crossref_primary_10_25180_lj_v22i2_237
PublicationCentury 2000
PublicationDate 2021-02-17
PublicationDateYYYYMMDD 2021-02-17
PublicationDate_xml – month: 02
  year: 2021
  text: 2021-02-17
  day: 17
PublicationDecade 2020
PublicationTitle Labyrinth: An International Journal for Philosophy, Value Theory and Sociocultural Hermeneutics
PublicationYear 2021
Publisher Axia Academic Publishers
Publisher_xml – name: Axia Academic Publishers
SSID ssib003113119
ssj0002891587
Score 2.1344712
Snippet The paper analyzes Jacques Derrida’s and Jean-Luc Nancy’s concept of the self-portrait. It is argued that Nancy builds on Derrida’s approach but introduces two...
SourceID doaj
crossref
SourceType Open Website
Index Database
StartPage 60
SubjectTerms derrida, nancy, self-portrait, différance, art theory
Title Between Blindness and Touching. Jacques Derrida and Jean-Luc Nancy on the Self-Portrait
URI https://doaj.org/article/7ad33eb5c532477ba9c5edffc6372220
Volume 22
hasFullText 1
inHoldings 1
isFullTextHit
isPrint
journalDatabaseRights – providerCode: PRVAON
  databaseName: DOAJ Directory of Open Access Journals
  customDbUrl:
  eissn: 1561-8927
  dateEnd: 99991231
  omitProxy: false
  ssIdentifier: ssj0002891587
  issn: 2410-4817
  databaseCode: DOA
  dateStart: 20140101
  isFulltext: true
  titleUrlDefault: https://www.doaj.org/
  providerName: Directory of Open Access Journals
link http://cvtisr.summon.serialssolutions.com/2.0.0/link/0/eLvHCXMwrV3PS8MwFA4yPHgRRcX5ixzEW7YuaZr06NQhYwzBibuV5CWFjdHJ3Pb3-5LO0ZsXL4U2pYTvhfe9rzy-R8g9CO_SXmmYgCxhqcKL9tIw1wu2uADIgdEyf6TGYz2d5m-NUV-hJ6y2B66B6yrjhPBWgkTqV8qaHKR3ZQmZUMhtUa0nKm-IqfqkBhuZfP-3BWVFT8ZpechYuCfdU7XhJtK7TrqLeWfL-Yx3eJiH3iCoho9_JJzBCTneVYr0sd7hKTlw_ox89uu-KtrH8tCFNEVN5ehkuYk9kR06NBAyPX0OjovOxNWhNxUbbYDGVEqXFcWqj777RclCI-nKzNbn5GPwMnl6ZbvZCAywwlEMtACXG--DP5wNnjg6NYitS2wuMsdzB5myXBmjMQgApfJaiEyhYMI7nogL0qqWlb8kVHCXagsmBZuliQArUQL5VCdeSuO5b5OHX0CKr9oCo0DpEJErFvMiIlcgcm3SD3DtXwrO1fEBxrPYxbP4K55X__GRa3LEQ-9JGNyibkhrvdr4W3II2_Xse3UXj8oPR3K_4Q
linkProvider Directory of Open Access Journals
openUrl ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-8&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fsummon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=Between+Blindness+and+Touching.+Jacques+Derrida+and+Jean-Luc+Nancy+on+the+Self-Portrait&rft.jtitle=Labyrinth%3A+An+International+Journal+for+Philosophy%2C+Value+Theory+and+Sociocultural+Hermeneutics&rft.au=Julia+Meer&rft.date=2021-02-17&rft.pub=Axia+Academic+Publishers&rft.issn=2410-4817&rft.eissn=1561-8927&rft.volume=22&rft.issue=2&rft.spage=60&rft.epage=73&rft_id=info:doi/10.25180%2Flj.v22i2.237&rft.externalDBID=DOA&rft.externalDocID=oai_doaj_org_article_7ad33eb5c532477ba9c5edffc6372220
thumbnail_l http://covers-cdn.summon.serialssolutions.com/index.aspx?isbn=/lc.gif&issn=2410-4817&client=summon
thumbnail_m http://covers-cdn.summon.serialssolutions.com/index.aspx?isbn=/mc.gif&issn=2410-4817&client=summon
thumbnail_s http://covers-cdn.summon.serialssolutions.com/index.aspx?isbn=/sc.gif&issn=2410-4817&client=summon