PERFORMATIVITY AND LAW

A DERRIDEAN ANALYSIS OF “MYSTICAL FOUNDATION OF AUTHORITY” 
IN FORCE OF LAW

Abstract

The aim of this philosophical essay is to analyze the notion of performativity in Jacques Derrida’s reading of Force of Law: the “mystical foundation of authority”. The starting question is: how does the performative character of legal discourse establish the regime of violence at the language level? The category of “mystical foundation of authority” reveals a problem regarding the dynamics of legal discourse as violence. All this violence is guarded by a silence that sustains the authority of law. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze Derrida's argument in relation to John Austin's theses on performativity. The understanding of Derrida’s reading will allow a margin of difference in relation to the Austinian proposal through iterability, that is, the condition of repetition of the sign that establishes its differential meaning. This possibility sustains and conditions the force of law.