Abstract

In “The Principle of Reason: The University in the Eyes of its Pupils,” Jacques Derrida writes: “Today, how can we not speak of the university?” This article pursues this question, the problematic ways Derrida frames this question, and the persistence of his frame. At issue are several implications: for the forms of writing we pursue—hence a discussion of genre; for thinking about “thought” as fundamental to the formation of the university, as Derrida (glossing Heidegger) thought; for considering what kinds of governmentalities, especially technological governmentalities, and forms of governance and deliberation elude or circumvent the “watchful eye of the Principle of Reason”; for considering less grand and more pragmatic forms of philosophical engagement and institutional deliberation that might matter for contesting increasingly instrumental notions of the contemporary university once “thinking about thinking,” having abandoned utility, has also lost the assumption of tenure.