Genesis of Work of Mourning in Jacques Derrida’s Glas

Abstract

We approach the first configuration of the thesis about the work of mourning (travail du deuil) in the philosophy of Jacques Derrida, developed in the 1974 text Glas, in direct relation to Hegel’s philosophy. This thesis is central to deconstruction and alludes to a speculative scheme that can be related both to the early theses on auto-affection as a process of constitution of the self, as well as to the idealizing consummation operation that is at the base of the theories about the origin of meaning in the Western philosophical tradition. In both cases, its about a deconstructive approach to the relationship with otherness in general, an issue that for Derrida constitutes the core of the epistemological problem of the historicity of meaning. We argue that the configuration of the work of mourning is the result of a series of theoretical decisions in relation to Hegel's philosophy, which imply considering the place of life and death in the system, as well as an incorporative relationship between them, mediated by the dynamics of the Aufhebung.