Derrida and Mowlavi on Philosophers' Reason

This article aims to bring the French philosopher Jacques Derrida into conversation with the Persian mystic poet Mowlavi. What might link the two thinkers is their critical approach toward philosophers' claim as to the authority of reason upon the truth. According to both, reason should acknowledge its limits. However, by so criticizing the material reason, Mowlavi opens the way to Love, the Heart, or revelation as an alternative to get to the truth-a tool that Derida, as a philosopher, does not seem to resort to. Hence, he remains a philosopher to the end. It is, nevertheless, in acknowledging the limitations of the philosophical approach that he kneels down before truth and faith, speaking to his God with swollen eyes full of tears.