Phenomenology, Grammatology, Mnemology: Spectral Realism in the Wake of Deconstruction

The first gestures of deconstruction put forward by Derrida crucially targeted certain central tenets of phenomenology. In an important sense, grammatology descends from this friction. Deconstruction brings to the fore the diachrony that is required for ideal objects to be conceived in a phenomenological manner. Is phenomenology, nonetheless, to be seen merely as what triggered deconstruction? I argue here that spectral realism not only builds on the legacy of Derrida but, by relinquishing certain elements of grammatology, it also paves the way for retrieving some of what phenomenology could achieve. This can be done by engaging memory assemblages to play a role comparable to that of intentional acts in phenomenology. This endeavor is what I call mnemology. It is a thoroughly diachronic attention that replaces intentional objects by a dynamic blending of archives and addends. This text begins to explore what a mnemology could do.