Derrida's Social Ontology: Institutions in Deconstruction presents the first dedicated study of Jacques Derrida’s philosophy of institutions. While previous studies of Derrida’s thought have considered his engagement with individual institutions—from the university to literature, law, and psychoanalysis, among others—Derrida’s Social Ontology offers the first attempt to reconstruct and defend the philosophical theory of institutions that underlies these engagements. In so doing, the book argues that the theme of “the institution” in Derrida's oeuvre offers the best...