Accepting or Transgressing the Failure: Derrida and Agamben on Kafka's Before the Law

This paper explores Derrida and Agamben's reading of Kafka's Before the Law. As a highly symbolic text, Kafka's short story has elicited numerous interpretations, among which Derrida and Agamben proffer, to some extent, opposing readings that exemplify their broader philosophical projects. By elucidating the parallels between Kafka's parable and the modern legal system, this paper analyses the different angles of Derrida and Agamben's views in their interpretations. Upon examining various aspects of their analyses, which encompass their philosophical reflections on difference, origin, command, messiah, event, threshold, and outside, the paper concentrates on the concluding moment of the story. This particular juncture proves to be the most challenging, manifesting a profoundly intriguing question in critical philosophy, and the disparate interpretations of the two philosophers underscore this intellectual challenge. The paper argues that Derrida's reading which accepts the failure of the village man without seeking any victory going beyond the legal system is a position that critical legal thinking needs to consider, while Agamben's, here exceptionally, transgressive tendency in pursuit of an extra-legal space is something that should not be of concern for critical legal thinking. The paper argues that Derridean acceptance of failure constitutes a radical force for the deconstructive standpoint, immunizing it against reconciliation and identification.