A Desire for Being Cosmopolitic: A Reconsideration of Hospitality As a Concept of Social Theory in Jacques Derrida and Marquis De Sade

The purpose of this presentation is to clarify the scope of Jacques Derrida’s thoughts on cosmopolitanism and hospitality (Derrida 1997) by referring to Marquis de Sade’s novel (Sade 1795) titled La philosophie dans le boudoir.

In Cosmopolites de tout les pays, encore un effort!, Derrida discussed an image of cosmopolitanism as universal hospitality through a criticism (or a deconstruction) of Immanuel Kant’s thoughts on perpetual peace and its fundamental principle of not a right of residence but that of visitation (Derrida 1997). Amid calls for “refugee crisis” all over the world, his criticism continues to be worth our full attention.

However, there are very few studies which focus on the title of it, combined the last sentence of The Communist Manifesto with “Français, encore un effort si vous voulez être républicains” which is the title of a booklet read out by a character in La philosophie dans le boudoir. Why did Derrida refer to (the title of) Sade’s text in the context of cosmopolitanism and hospitality? And what kind of relationships are there between them? These are the questions I try to answer to accomplish the purpose of this presentation.

In my presentation, firstly I brief a summary of Derrida’s discussions on cosmopolitanism and hospitality by introducing some previous studies on them. Secondly, I explain what Sade wrote in “Français, encore un effort si vous voulez être républicains” and conceptualise his theory of acceptance. Finally, I analyse the implication of the combined title by referring to Kant’s discussions on the relationship between perpetual peace and the republic, and discuss a way of application of Derrida’s thoughts on cosmopolitanism to social theories as a conclusion.

References:

Derrida, J., 1997, Cosmopolites de tout les pays, encore un effort!, Paris: Galilée.

Sade, Marquis de, 1795, La philosophie dans le boudoir, Paris: Pouvert.