Desire in Derrida's given time

there is (es gibt) no gift outside the text

pp. 155-178

in: Jason Alvis, Marion and Derrida on the gift and desire, Berlin, Springer, 2016

Abstract

This chapter takes the findings from chapter seven on Derrida's rejection of intentionality and desire from having a role in deconstruction and applies them to an interpretation of how he understands the gift in his ambiguously titled Given Time (Donner Le Temps). Given Time does not simply unfold how time is given, but is dedicated to showing how a gift can be given, given the parameters of time. The temporal dimensions of the gift demand that the gift be "impossible," and that any desiring or "intending to give" presupposes a future, which inhibits the arrival of the gift. As "the impossible," the gift cannot be desired because it is unconditionally beyond the possible, and in relation to the aporia, one experiences a tense profusion of desires for the seemingly opposite demands of gift and economy, which ends in indecision. The gift can be "at play" in time, but cannot happen as a result of the intent to give because the gift cannot be derivative of one's desire, which is reflective of past experiences. It is indeed not "the gesture that counts" when it comes to giving, for if anything, an act of generosity inhibits a gift's happening, which must take place beyond any conscious intending of any "subject."