Jacques Derrida (1930-2004)
The
French philosopher Jacques Derrida (born 1930), by developing a strategy of
reading called "deconstruction," challenged assumptions about
metaphysics and the character of language and written texts.
Jacques
Derrida was born in El Biar,
Derrida
gained recognition for his first book, a translation with lengthy introduction
of Husserl's Origin of Geometry (1962), which
won him the Prix Cavailles. His analysis of Husserl's phenomenology became the starting point for the
criticism of Western philosophy developed in his numerous other works. Derrida
was suspicious of all systematic metaphysical thought and sought to illuminate
the assumptions and riddles found in language.
Metaphysics
of Presence
Derrida depicted Western thought,
from Plato onward, as a "metaphysics
of presence." By this he meant the desire to guarantee the certainty of
thought claims by finding an ultimate foundation or source of meaning and
truth. This quest was seen in the Western preoccupation with such concepts as
substance, essence, origin, identity, truth, and, of course, "Being."
Moreover, he explored the way metaphysics
is linked to a specific view of language. The
assumption, Derrida contended, is that the spoken word is free of the paradoxes
and possibilities of multiple meanings characteristic of written texts. He
called this assumed primacy of the spoken word over text
"logocentrism," seeing it closely linked to the desire for certainty.
His task was to undo metaphysics and its
logocentrism. Yet Derrida was also clear that we cannot easily escape
metaphysical thought, since to think outside it is to be determined by it, and
so he did not affirm or oppose metaphysics,
but sought to resist it.
Derrida
developed a strategy
of reading texts called "deconstruction."
The term does not mean "destruction" but "analysis" in the
etymological sense of "to undo." Deconstructive reading attempts to uncover
and undo tensions within a text showing how basic ideas and concepts fail to
ever express only one meaning. Derrida's point was
that language
always defers any single reference to the world because it is a system of signs
that are intelligible only because of their differences. He called this dual
character of language
"difference" linking deferral and difference. Traditional metaphysics,
as the quest for a unequivocal mystery of meaning, is
deconstructed by exposing the "difference" internal to metaphysical
discourse.
Nothing Outside
the Text
Derrida's
famous phrase, stated in Of Grammatology (1976), that "there is
nothing outside the text" sums up his approach. What texts refer to, what
is "outside" them, is nothing but another text. "Textuality" means that reference is not to external
reality, the assumption of much Western thought, but to other texts, to "intertextuality." Thus Derrida's criticism of
logocentrism also entails an attack on the assumption that words refer to or
represent the world. If texts do not refer to the world then it is impossible
to secure through language
a foundation for meaning and truth. This requires a revision of what we mean by
philosophical thinking. It can no longer be seen as the search for foundations,
but as the critical play with texts to resist any metaphysical drive of
thought.
Derrida
applied deconstructive reading to a variety of texts, literary and
philosophical. In Dissemination (1972) he offered subtle and complex
readings of Plato and Mallarme. In works such as Margins
of Philosophy (1972) and Writing and Difference (1978) he wrote on
topics ranging from metaphor to theater. He refused,
in a way similar to Nietzsche, to accept simple distinctions between
philosophical and literary uses of language.
Interestingly, his challenge to philosophy and his affirmation of the ambiguity
of texts meant that his own work called for deconstruction.
Derrida's
deconstructive strategy
has implications for the study of literature. His contention was that the
search for meaning, ideas, the author's intention, or truth in
a text are misguided. What must be explored is
the meanings that words have because of linguistic relations in the text. This
opens up an infinite play of meaning possible with any text. Put differently,
there is no one meaning to a text, its meaning is always open and strictly undecideable. Deconstruction
requires the close readings of texts that highlight linguistic relations,
particularly etymological ones, and relations between a text and other texts
found in our culture without seeking to determine "the" meaning of
the work. In short, it requires taking seriously "difference" and intertextuality.
Not Without Detractors
Derrida's work provoked the
reconsideration of traditional problems and texts and suggested a strategy
for reading. However, he did not offer a positive position but debunked
metaphysic strains of thought found throughout Western
philosophy and literature. His work had significant impact on philosophical and
literary circles, particularly in
Derrida's
1996 book Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression,
explored the relationship between technologies of inscription and psychic
processes. "Derrida offers for the first time a major statement on the
pervasive impact of electronic media, particularly e-mail, which threaten to
transform the entire public and private space of humanity," wrote one
reviewer. Because of the complexity of his writing, the need to deconstruct his
texts, and the limitless potential of deconstructive
reading, the influence and importance of his work is still in question.
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Jacques Derrida from Encyclopedia of World Biography. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.
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