Jacques Derrida:

The man of deconstruction

by Dr. R. Premkumar

Deconstruction is known as a philosophical movement as well as a theory of literary criticism put forward by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida and his theory paved the way to review fundamental assumptions and centres of the western philosophical thoughts cum literature developed for 2500 years. Derrida owes much to Martin Heidegger, Ferdinand de Saussure and Roland Barthes for his revolutionary approach. It is also considered to be one of the critical methods concerning texts and literary criticism.

An American novelist and philosopher, Rebecca Goldstein defines deconstruction as "in deconstruction the critic claims there is no meaning to be found in the actual text, but only in the various, often mutually irreconcilable virtual texts constructed by readers in their search for meaning."

Plurality and individuality are salient features of the deconstruction and it reveals the truth that reality or meaning of a text is not one but many. It could also be said that it is a movement of simultaneous affirmation and cancellation concerning the meaning of a text. The deconstruction questions the fundamental concepts such as certainty, identity and truth on which western philosophical thoughts have been built and it has been assumed that in the western philosophical tradition such concepts are unchanged and are fully expressed but these positions are refuted by deconstruction theory.

Structural elements

The deconstruction unearths the structural elements of a text such as meanings, metaphysical constructs and binary oppositions and it contends that those are unstable and changing in nature. Ultimately, for it all become signifiers (mere words) in the process of searching meaning in a text.

Of Grammatology (1967), the masterpiece of Derrida, primarily deals with deconstruction in which Derrida questions self-sufficient or intrinsic meaning and pure presence of a word or concept. For Derrida, self-sufficient or pure presence of a word or concept is impossible.

In the journey of searching the understanding of full meaning of a word or concept, Derrida rejects Logo centrism (full meaning of a word or concept can be reached by reader) and accepts the neologism, the process occurs in the minds of a reader in which a concept or word and its meaning are constituted by binary oppositions. Besides, the meaning of the word or the concept is changing in accordance with the change that occurs in the opposition and above all a permanent meaning of the word or the concept is an illusion and temporary meaning is real in this process.

Binary oppositions

Derrida argues that one member of binary oppositions cannot be conceived without the other because the meaning of a word or concept is made of the combination of the members. He also contends that in the binary oppositions one member will be considered to be higher while the other will be lower and the meaning of the two will change according to the time.

For instance, the concept of "justice" is inextricably mixed with the member of injustice and we all know that the meaning of the concept "justice" is changing historically from time to time. Besides, for instance, in the binary oppositions, "good" is higher than "evil" and like "male" is higher than "female". Derrida pinpoints that this is the mechanism of our conceptualisation.

Derridean deconstruction questions intrinsic and stable meaning, absoulte truth, direct presence of reality and conceptual hierarchy and it is also believed that deconstruction is opposed to analytical tradition of western philosophy. Deconstruction techniques try to uncover contradictions or inconsistencies inherent in the binary oppositions in a text and these binary oppositions make the text possible. As per deconstruction, the meaning of a word or concept is determined by a particular context and not by the structure of language.

"Difference" is the French term coined by Derrida to delineate the vital functions of the deconstruction approach. Here "difference" means both "deferment (postponement)" and "difference". The deferment implies that the meaning of a text is always changing. In other words, it is a state of flux. By the difference Derrida means that the meaning of a text is understood by the difference between the elements which are different from one another is syntax of language. According to deconstruction, every reading of a same text is different from one another.

Illusion

Derrida points out that an expression of full meaning of a word or concept is an illusion and this process is identified by him as "metaphysics of presence". The metaphysics of presence tells us that meaning of a word or concept is not independent but interdependent and infinite. Derrida argues that the superior state of one member in the binary oppositions cannot be conceived without its inferior counterpart. Thus, an absolute meaning of a word or concept is nothing but imagination. Overturning the hierarchy in the binary oppositions is considered to be a paramount important function of deconstructive reading.

"Under erasure", a strategy for reading a text originally developed by Martin Heidegger is widely applied by Derrida in his deconstructive reading to explain the limitation of a word or concept conveying its meaning.

This technique reveals the metaphysics of presence of a word or concept by striking through the word or the concept. For instance, the under erasure implies that a partial or relative expression of meaning of the word or the concept is achievable goal. Deconstruction challenges unified and unchanging meaning of a text and questions the very existence of the author's intentions in the text. Deconstruction elaborately explains the concept of "the Death of the Author" of Roland Barthes and goes beyond it. Deconstruction insists that there may be many numbers of legitimate interpretations of a text.

In the binary oppositions the meaning of the higher member is fulfilled by its lower counterpart and this lower member is called by Derrida as "supplement" which has been taken from Rousseau.

Identities

The very existence of the lower member in the higher one is called "invagination" by Derrida. When we involve in the process of reading, deconstruction claims that nothing can be outside of a text but everything that we know is a text. The radical de-centering of identities and stressing on signifiers than signifieds are salient features of deconstructive reading. Derrida agrees with Saussure the point that meaning of a word if made of difference among signifiers but he disagrees with Saussure the point that there is a permanent meaning for signifiers.

As per deconstruction view, the necessary relationship between signifier and signified disappears and all become signifiers.

Derrida attacks phonocentrism (speech is higher than writing) and shows inconsistencies in the assumptions of phonocentrism. He advantages of writing over speech by providing many reasons.

Deconstruction sheds light on contradictions or inconsistencies inherent in the binary oppositions, fundamental assumptions and hierarchies of a text.

The deconstruction discovered the truth that existence and understanding of every higher concept in the binary oppositions actually depend on its lower counterpart.

Thus, deconstruction is not only one of the critical theories or methods concerning philosophy as well as literature but also it is a great review of logic of our thoughts and language.