Misunderstanding

Mr. Jacques Derrida, proponent and pioneer of the philosophico-linquistic theory of deconstruction gives his reply to philosopher John Searle, who had originally replied to one of Derrida's works, a summary of which (along with Derrida's initial paper, Signature Event Context and his reply to Searle titled Limited Inc a b c...) can be found in Limited Inc.

Apparently Searle misunderstood Derrida's "point" in Signature Event Context, because his reply to Searle has such a tone of biting sarcasm mixed with utter seriousness that it becomes hard to read without one's concept of meaning in language being thrown into oblivion. In any case, I found it to be both amusing and enlightening. A couple of quick excerpts:

What is the nature of the debate that seems to begin here? Where, here? Here? Is it a debate? Does it take place? Has it begun already? When? Ever since Plato, whispers the prompter promptly from the wings, and the actor repeats, ever since Plato. Is it still going on? Is it finished? Does it pertain to philosophy? Does it pertain to literature? The theater? Morals? Politics? Psychoanlalysis? Fiction? If it takes place, what is its place? And these utterances-- are they "serious" or not? "Literal" or not? "Fictional" or not? "Citational" or not? "Used" or "mentioned"? "Standard" or not? "Void" or not? All these words are, I assure you and you can verify it yourselves, "citations" of Searle.
...
But: 1. The remark says that "I" (who?) "counterfeit" what I say that "I did," and this implies that I re-do (citing my signature: but can a signature be cited?) and "imitate" with a view towards deceiving (which in French, as in English, is the predominant meaning of "counterfeit" [contrefaire]). Naturally, the J.D. that claims to guarantee the identity of the "I" and of the signatory is itself guaranteed by nothing but the presumed authenticity of the handwritten signature. The latter, however, is explicitly designated as being "counterfeit" and it is reproduced, typo-photographically, in thousands of copies. Searle himself could easily imitate it.

One might want to go here for a brief overview of Derrida's main ideas/contributions as a contemporary philosopher.