Jerusalem within Athens: The Theological Substratum of Derrida's 'Plato's Pharmacy'
"Plato's Pharmacy," Jacque Derrida's study of Plato's Phaedrus, has exerted massive influence on critical theory as well as the study of Plato. In this presentation, I put forth two interrelated arguments. First, that the essay is indefensible as a reading of Plato. Second, that exegetical coherence is of secondary import, since "Plato's Pharmacy," despite its surface form, is concerned less with Plato than with Christianity and Judaism as modes of textual understanding. (Photo credit: Joel Robine/AFP/Getty Images)