“Penser ce qui vient” was originally published in Derrida pour les temps a venir, edited by René Major (Paris: Stock, 2007), 19–62.

This paper was presented during an encounter with Alain Minc, businessman, political advisor, and author, which took place at the Sorbonne on January 18, 1994 following the publication of Derrida's Specters of Marx and Alain Minc's Le Nouveau Moyen Âge (Paris: Fayard). An extract appeared in the newspaper Libération.

Introduction

The solemn and intimidating hospitality of this amphitheatre seems better suited to grand symphony orchestras than to critical debates. It invites celebration or nostalgic commemoration. As if in counterpoint to this session, I recall that, close to fifteen years ago, in June 1979, the Estates General of Philosophy, which some friends and I convened, was held here. Like the chosen title and symbolism of the Estates General, the accents of that day were somewhat feverishly pre-revolutionary. Alas. I had risked saying, at the opening of those Estates General, that for something to change, if not in philosophy, at least in the public institutions of teaching and research, well, a political mutation would certainly not be sufficient, but it would in any case be indispensable, at least in the form of a change in the majority and at least so that something we could call the future [l’avenir], to go quickly, remains open. In June 1979, already lacking lucidity, I did not believe that this change in the majority would occur so soon and, indeed, nothing assured us of such an acceleration.