The Maze of Taste: On Bataille, Derrida, and Kant

Authors

Arkady Plotnitsky, University of Pennsylvania

Keywords

Kant, Critique of Judgment, metaphysical, metaphysical text, Bataille, metaphor, Derrida, economy, economy of loss, genius, scheme of taste, economy of consumption, art, plurality, German philosophy, modern philosophy

Abstract

The case of Kant's Critique of Judgment offers a powerful example of the radical disruption of the metaphysical text, enacted by Bataille's major сoncepts. The analysis of the metaphor of economy in Kant, Bataille and Derrida suggests the crucial importance of Bataille's general economy—as the economy of loss—for deconstructing the Kantian conception of genius and the whole scheme of taste—as an economy of consumption—and inscribing a complex interplay forces that the general economy is designed to account for. Once however taste, art and the economy of genius can no longer be inscribed through the restricted economy of the metaphysical text, the question of genre and style of a different inscription—a general economy—acquires a crucial significance. Bataille's own discursive practice can be seen as an exemplification of such a different—plural— style.

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Recommended Citation

Plotnitsky, Arkady (1988) "The Maze of Taste: On Bataille, Derrida, and Kant," Studies in 20th Century Literature: Vol. 12: Iss. 2, Article 5. https://doi.org/10.4148/2334-4415.1216