This blog serves as a response to a task given by Dilip Barad sir, Department of English at MKBU. It delves into Derrida's theory of deconstruction. For Further Info Click Here.
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| Jacques Derrida |
1.1. • Why is it difficult to define Deconstruction?
It is not that only Deconstruction is difficult to describe but Derrida argues that everything id difficult to define. Because when one tries to define something that very definition of the defined object becomes questionable, now this is the theory of deconstruction when one tries to define the theory it self it becomes problematic.
1.2. • Is Deconstruction a negative term?
No, It is not. Deconstruction does not mean to destroy something but it is to inquire the foundation the philosophy. In that inquiry one has to study every element in particular language minutely.
1.3. • How does Deconstruction happen on its own?
This concept is quite difficult to understand for me. But I try to define it by what I got from the video. So when we try to inquire something that is in the language and in that foundational inquiry one has to dig deeper to find out the hidden meaning of the language, one has to decode the written text. When one does that Deconstruction happens on its own.
2.1. • The influence of Heidegger on Derrida
Heidegger was the one from whom the deconstruction theory gets influenced. Because he questioned the western philosophy and argued that man is not the centre of the speech but language is. he said that language plays vital role in what people say.
2.2. • Derridean rethinking of the foundations of Western philosophy
Derrida thought that western philosophy is all about the ideas about ideas. He argues that western philosophy has not given importance to being of being. He argues that wester philosophy has given more importance to the words rather then the real thing itself.
3.1. • Ferdinand de Saussureian concept of language (that meaning is arbitrary, relational, constitutive)
Ferdinand de Saussure argues that language arbitrary means that every word has its given meaning. It is just a random word that is used to describe something. He also pointed out that the word has its relational with the situation then one can get meaning out of that. For example the word Duster has two significance one is inside the classroom the object that is used to rub the board and the second is a car model that is produced by the Nissan company. So when we understand the word and its meaning it is situational it is where we use that word. In what context one uses that word that becomes more significant.
3.2. • How Derrida deconstructs the idea of arbitrariness?
In his concept of arbitrariness Ferdinand de Saussure argues that one gives one meaning to the word for oneself. Derrida argues that any word if we see it does not have any meaning. For example in the dictionary to explain a certain word there are other similar words but there is perfect meaning of that word. In that concept we do not get any meaning from the word but we just pretend that we understand the word. but in finding the meaning of any particular word there is always a postponing of the meaning of particular word.
3.3. • Concept of metaphysics of presence
In this Concept of Metaphysics of presence Derrida argues that western philosophy is about the present, It takes the presence of any particular thing as the proof of that the thing exists. By doing that one makes the things inferior that is not present. To explain this concept he gives an example of woman that how the women are seen that that there is absence of manliness. So the language is based on the negative opposition or binary opposition. When we want to know white, one has to know that there is black and which is not white that is black. In that understanding through language many things are privileged and other things are seen inferior to something else.
4.1. • Derridean concept of DifferAnce
In western philosophy the speech is considered more present way of communication than the writing, because it can be done actively. When speaker and listener both are present. Derrida points out that some words like "DifferAnce" can only be understood or differentiated when written, in speaking that can not be done. So the word is a pun to prove that writing can be considered as the more significance tool of communication than the speech.
4.2. • Infinite play of meaning
In the video speaker tries to simplify this concept through the example of the dictionary. When one looks into the dictionary to find the meaning of the word there are other similar words not the meaning of that particular word. So there is infinite loop of postponing the meaning. Derrida argues there are no particular meaning of the word. It is an illusion that one believes that one understands the word.
4.3. • DIfferAnce = to differ + to defer
Through this word Derrida make a pun that whenever one communicates there is differentiation of the words that make meaning of the communication. In that communication the word "differ" and "defer" can be differentiated when written or spelled, otherwise those are the same word. He tries to give more emphases in written language unlike traditional western philosophy that gives more importance to spoken language.
5.1. • Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences
While discussing the anthropology of Claude Lévi-Strauss, Derrida argues that the language itself is the problematic, when one tries to critique other text the critique itself becomes the open for criticism. According to Derrida language does not have a center than whatever the arguments or discussion happens it is always asks for the further discussion. So ultimately the Deconstruction theory itself seeks criticism of oneself because it is using the language.
5.2. • Explain: "Language bears within itself the necessity of its own critique."
As Derrida pointed out that there is always a postponed meaning in the language. So when any theory is applied or critique is done with the use of language it can not be done without the language. And language is uncapable of giving the final meaning, so it requires further explanations and never ending chain of postponed meaning begins. So when to language is used there is always a possibility for further critique.
6.1. • The Yale School: the hub of the practitioners of Deconstruction in the literary theories
The theory of Deconstruction was the philosophical aspect but when it was practiced at the Yale University it enters in the field of literature and comes out as a idea of "The Yale School". They focused on the metaphor that are used in the literature . According o the scholar at Yale School that the literature can have the multiple meaning. School also question the the Romanticism, in which subjectivity is transcended into objectivity as in the poetry of Romanticism. scholars asked that that can be read in different ways too, it is up to the reader to get meaning from that.
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