Teaching with untranslatables in The Beast and the Sovereign Volume I

ABSTRACT In this paper I examine one line of argument that spans Sessions Five and Six of Jacques Derrida’s 2001–2002 seminar The Beast and the Sovereign Volume I. In this argument Derrida uses the untranslatability of bête and bêtise to demonstrate to his students the instability of the distinction between the animal and the human he sees drawn both by Gilles Deleuze in Difference and Repetition, as well as more broadly in the post-Cartesian tradition. My analysis thus shows how Derrida uses these untranslatables as pedagogical tools, and key in his demonstration is his departure from the French language when he relies on claims made in Avital Ronell’s Stupidity. I then reflect on the potential of this pedagogical strategy for transforming the dynamics of authority in the classroom.