Derrida's On Grammatology between structuralism and post-structuralism

Jacques Derrida's work on deconstruction and his book On Grammatology are situated within the broader philosophical context of structuralism and post-structuralism. Structuralism is a theoretical approach that emphasizes the underlying structures that shape and organize knowledge and culture. It suggests that meaning is not inherent in individual words or objects, but rather is derived from the relationships between these elements and the structures in which they are embedded.

Derrida's approach to grammatology, which is the study of writing and its relationship to language, builds on and challenges many of the ideas of structuralism and leads the way to post-structuralism. Derrida argued that the traditional Western focus on speech as the primary medium of communication and the privileging of speech over writing was misguided and overlooked the fundamental role of writing in shaping and constructing meaning. He argued that writing was not simply a secondary or derivative form of language, but was in fact a primary and constitutive element of language and meaning.

In this context, Derrida's work on grammatology sought to deconstruct the traditional Western hierarchy of speech over writing and to explore the ways in which writing shapes and determines our understanding of language, meaning, and knowledge. His work has had a significant influence on a wide range of fields, including philosophy, literary theory, anthropology, and cultural studies.

The influence of Derrida's On Grammatology

Derrida's work on grammatology has helped to shift the focus in many disciplines away from traditional notions of language and meaning and towards a more complex understanding of the ways in which language and writing shape and determine our understanding of the world.

Derrida's work has been widely influential in the development of post-structuralist and deconstructive approaches to literature and criticism. His ideas have also had a significant impact on anthropology, where they have been used to challenge traditional assumptions about the relationship between language, culture, and identity. In addition, Derrida's work has been influential in the fields of philosophy and cultural studies, where it has been used to examine and critique the ways in which meaning is constructed and maintained in different cultural contexts.

See also: Foucault, Structuralism and post-structuralism

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*The writing of this text was assisted by OpenAI’s GPT-3 model, while edited and modified by the author.

What does Deconstruction have to do with Quantom Physics?

It is always a curious thing how physical theories about existence correlate with contemporary philosophical notions of it. One such example is the relation between Jacques Derrida's theory of Deconstruction and what is known as Quantum Mechanics or Quantum physics. While these two fields may seem unrelated at first glance, they actually have many common features and ideas that make them relevant to each other.

Quantum and deconstructive uncertainty

One of the key ideas that connects deconstruction and quantum mechanics is the concept of uncertainty and indeterminacy. Deconstruction, as a method of critical analysis, is concerned with exposing the underlying assumptions and biases that are inherent in texts and other forms of communication. This approach challenges the idea that language and other forms of communication can provide a complete and accurate representation of reality, and instead highlights the inherent uncertainty and indeterminacy that is always present in our attempts to understand and communicate about the world.

Similarly, quantum mechanics is based on the idea that there are fundamental limits to our ability to predict and control the behavior of subatomic particles, and that there is always a certain level of uncertainty and indeterminacy at the quantum level. This uncertainty is inherent in the behavior of subatomic particles, which can exhibit both wave-like and particle-like properties depending on how they are measured or observed.

Rethinking reality

Another way that deconstruction and quantum mechanics intersect is in their approach to understanding the fundamental nature of reality. Deconstruction challenges traditional ways of thinking and encourages us to question the assumptions and biases that shape our understanding of the world. This approach is similar to the way that quantum mechanics forces us to re-examine our assumptions about the nature of reality at the most fundamental level.

In conclusion, while deconstruction and quantum mechanics deal with very different fields, there are also many commonalities and points of overlap between them. By exploring these connections and similarities, we can gain a deeper understanding of both deconstruction and quantum mechanics, and their relevance to our broader understanding of the world.

*This text was created with the aid of OpenAI’s GPT-3 model and modified by the author.

Derrida and Specch Act Theory - overview

There is a well-known controversy between Derrida and John Searle about Austin's theory of speech acts, which was developed by Searle. According to Derrida, attempts to present speech as a means of communication and to attach meanings to a specific context are metaphysical, since the very concept of communication already carries the features of metaphysics. Searle's attitudes that we can understand the author's thought or his intentions are also the attitudes of Cartesian metaphysics, which Searle opposes. Such attitudes generally cannot be the basis of any theory, including the theory of speech acts. Searle's concept is only a manifestation of his excessive confidence that he can distinguish the main from the secondary.

For Derrida the boundary between descriptive and performative utterances (on the distinction of which the theory of speech acts is based) cannot be clear. At the same time, the creator of the theory of speech acts, Austin himself, moved in a more correct direction than Searle. First of all, the speech is about the fact that he could not accurately distinguish performatives, that is, find a "pure" performative. Derrida agreed with Austin on the universality of quotations, that is, that descriptive statements should be regarded as quotations. Derrida sharply criticized Austin's interpretation of context. For Derrida, context cannot be categorized clearly (as Austin and Searle did when introducing “bad” and “good”, “serious” and “frivolous” contexts). Any context is unique, there is always something unexpected in it. The context is not a universal code. Only the difference is primary, which is also manifested in quotations. Austin was a logocentric, and therefore a metaphysician, who believed that meaning presupposes a clear conscious intention on the part of the author of a speech utterance.

see Summary of How to Do Things With Words by J.L.Austin 

Meaning of Derrida's Différance - Short Explanation

In his key work, Writing and Difference, Derrida constructs a neologism that, when written in French, looks like Differance , but does not sound at all different from the word difference . Differance is a more complex concept. It was obtained by combining the meanings of two Latin words - differer (to distinguish) and defaire (to disassemble).

The term "difference" goes back to Heidegger's ontological difference and Saussure's semiotic difference. Difference is the antithesis to the identity of presence. Difference in the ontological sense is primary over presence. The originality of the difference is associated with the lack of identity between the finite and the infinite, the meaning and the thing, the past and the future, with the finiteness of human nature and its intermediate place in the global structure of being.

"Differentiation" means remoteness, non-givenness of everything (in time and space). This is the world of human existence, which is constantly on the verge of extinction, "erasing" any traces of a person. Distinction constitutes the basis of being and the opposition of presence / absence, being a constant displacement, delay, delay, interval. Differentiation is outside the categories of thought. It is an unclear and ambiguous transition (shift) from one thing to another, from one pole of opposition to another . Derrida insisted that Différance is neither a word nor a concept and cannot be understood within the framework of a system of signs.

Arche-writing, arche-trace and distinction as some quasi-origins are connected with each other, in a certain sense they are one and the same. From the position of arche-writing, one can observe writing - speech, from the position of arche-trace - presence - absence, and distinction allows one to see identity - difference

Derrida on Writing and Trace - Summary and Explanantion

According to Derrida in On Grammatology, the entire Western civilization - culture, science, philosophy - was influenced by phonetic writing (alphabet) . Derrida opposes the concept of writing (and the grammatology he created) to a logocentric (metaphysical) system of concepts (speech and word) based on identity and presence (if these mean nothing to you, read intro to Deconstruction first). Rather, non-metaphysical writing refers to difference and absence. Writing is a way of the existence of a language in which traces remain.

The trace for Derrida is the original meaning, something displayed in the letter, it does not depend on the method of writing. The trace refers not to presence, but to memory, it is the past, which was never present. The trace is an imitation of presence, a ghost, an illusion. The trace exists before any primary attitudes and oppositions. There are different types of footprint: “motivated” (memory of an external impression), “conditionally motivated” (a word denoting an object that was recently seen), with “lost motivation”, without any motivation at all (arche-trace). Associated with the trace is a sign that exists in traditional metaphysics. Typically, a linguistic mark arises as a result of a trace.

Writing precedes any given in a phenomenological sense and does not refer to presence (presence). Writing is initially involved in the game of traces (that is, multiple differences, references, erasures, absences) and represents a trace, however, writing is not a trace (a trace does not exist in itself). Writing carries a fundamental property of Derrida's ontology - the ontology of difference. The expression of the letter - the text - has a special meaning, being the main subject of analysis. Derrida's formula - "everything is text" - corresponds to another principle: "there is nothing outside the language."

Writing is not something external in relation to logos, truth and meaning, it does not carry a destructive function, but only a demonstration of the origin of concepts and their connections among themselves. Traditional metaphysics tended to belittle the role of writing.

Other concepts are associated with writing, first of all "arche-writing", the original letter, which is a necessary condition for all forms of writing.

In later works, Derrida rarely used the concept of "writing", but it remains as a fundamental principle.

Derrida's Deconstruction: Basic Concepts and Intro

Derrida's programmatic text on deconstruction was his 1967 work On Grammatology. Derrida sees his main task as overcoming the entire European philosophy. In this book, Derrida first used such "words-concepts" as: "presence", "logocentrism", "metaphysics", "grammatology", "deconstruction", "writing", " arche-letter "," trace "," difference " and " distinction". Derrida rarly provided clear definitions of these concepts so we'll try our best to explain them here. 

Presence according to Derrida is a way of being, a fundamental concept of all Western philosophy.. Presence implies completeness, self-identity, given, self-sufficiency. Presence always refers to the base, root cause or center and can manifest itself in such forms as essence, existence, substance, subject, transcendence, consciousness, God , man, etc. 

Logocentrism according to Derrida is a given in Western philosophy. The Logos is not so much a mind as a word or a voice. Centering implies a way of pulling together any concepts around a pivot center, which leads to a hierarchy. Logocentrism can take the forms of "phonocentrism", "phallocentrism" and "ethnocentrism".

Metaphysics (Derrida's term borrows from Heidegger) is the space of philosophy, which is based on logocentrism. Metaphysics is limited by systems of binary oppositions (sensory - intelligible, truth - falsehood, good - evil, body - soul, speech - writing, culture - nature, etc.). One of the oppositions always strives to dominate. Revealing these concepts is the main goal of Derrida's deconstruction. This should be facilitated by a new discipline - "grammatology" (which later became deconstruction) . Deconstruction reveals the primary attitudes of philosophy (and European culture in general), on which all other postulates and boundaries are based, which shows their relativity.

Derrida on Writing and Trace

Derrida and Specch Act Theory

Derrida and the concept of justice

Derrida's On Grammatology between structuralism and post-structuralism