Geoffrey Bennington

Geoffrey Bennington is a British philosopher and literary critic holding dual professorships: Professor of Philosophy at The European Graduate School / EGS and Asa G. Candler Professor of Modern French Thought at Emory University. He earned his BA (1978), MA, and PhD (1984) from the University of Oxford. Previously served as Chair of the French Department at the University of Sussex (1990–94 and 1995–97) and Director of the Centre for Modern French Thought (1997–2001).

His research focuses on deconstruction, modern French thought (Derrida, Lyotard), 18th-century literature, and political philosophy. Key works include Legislations: The Politics of Deconstruction (1994), Interrupting Derrida (2000), and Not Half No End (2010). He co-authored Jacques Derrida (1993) with Derrida himself, blending textual analysis with computer-inspired interactivity while critiquing such possibilities.

Bennington’s articles explore themes like sovereignty, ethics, temporal ontology, and postmodern governance. His current project Scatter (the matter with democracy) rethinks political philosophy through deconstructive lenses. Extensive translations include Lyotard’s The Inhuman and Derrida’s Of Spirit.

His work consistently interrogates how deconstruction engages with political imperatives, arguing it opens paths to ethical and political thought inaccessible through traditional frameworks.