>Derrida was a philosopher, and deserves to have his philosophy looked at in its own right, independent of any political conclusions. There is no doubt that there is a lot of technical developments in it that are admirable in their own right, but I think it is ultimately flawed. The relationship between politics was opened up for discussion by Derrida insofar as he addressed Marx - but that would not exhaust his work, by any stretch.<
One of Derrida's weaknesses, I think, is precisely that he operates as if politics and philosophy are two autonomous realms that are occasionally brought together, usually by the will of the philosopher. One of the many great things about Marx is to have shown that that separation is completely false, that ontology is political, that the critique of political economy is also the critique of epistemology, etc. So it's a little surprising to hear you endorse the possibility of "philosophy...independent of any political conclusions" while defending at the same time defending Marx.