Deconstruction Notes

Deconstruction

Deconstruction, associated with Jacques Derrida, is not a theory but a set of reading strategies analyzing Western philosophy's history of ideas. It critiques humanist thought by challenging the notion of 'the human' as the center of analysis, a shift initiated by structuralism.

Structuralism and the Center

Structuralism replaces the human-centered approach with 'the structure,' emphasizing how units operate within it. Derrida extends this to Western philosophy, asserting that every philosophical system posits a center—a point of origin and reference. This center could be God, the human mind, or other concepts, depending on the system. However, this model is less applicable to language, where identifying a 'center' is challenging once human beings are removed as a possible center.

Binary Opposition

Derrida builds on Levi-Strauss's idea that units in a structure form binary pairs. Within these pairs, one term is culturally valued over the other (e.g., good/evil). Deconstruction questions how Western thought is structured by these oppositions and what happens when these opposites are deconstructed.

Speech vs. Writing

Derrida examines the binary opposition of speech/writing in Of Grammatology. Western philosophy privileges speech as primary and associates it with presence, the speaker, and the origin of what is said; writing is seen as a secondary transcription lacking a necessary connection to the speaker. This privileging of speech over writing is, according to Derrida, an example of logocentrism.

Logocentrism

Logocentrism, or word-centeredness, is at the core of Western metaphysics and humanism. The statement from Genesis, 'And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light,' illustrates this concept. It establishes God as the speaker, present and creating through speech, thus making God the origin of all things, including binary oppositions like light/darkness.

Meaning and Negation

Philosophical concepts such as being/nothingness, reason/madness, and mind/body gain meaning through mutual reference and negation. Each term is defined by what the other is not. Binary opposites are, therefore, inseparable in their opposition, since one side only holds value by negating the other. This favoring of presence is also seen in valuing masculine over feminine, where the penis is seen as presence and female genitals as absence.

The Role of the Center

Binary oppositions and their inherent structure mean that every system relies on a center. From this center, the entire system originates and is regulated. The center maintains the structure, ensuring each binary opposite remains distinct. Western philosophy utilizes terms like being, essence, truth, and God as centers. Each center serves two roles:

1. It originates the system and ensures adherence to the rules.
2. It exists beyond the system and its rules.

The center limits 'play,' stabilizing the structure. Derrida views this limitation as unfavorable in philosophical systems, although fixity might be desirable in practical constructions like buildings. The teacher in a kindergarten classroom exemplifies the role of the center; their presence dictates order, while their absence leads to chaos.

Structures operate between fixity (no play) and constant shifting (continual play). Western culture favors rigid systems, preferring order, predictability, and stability. Similarly, it prefers a single, solid connection of signification over ambiguity, although the 'play' in language makes literary language possible. Literary texts operate loosely, while non-literary texts treat meaning as fixed.

The center is the most crucial, irreplaceable part of any structure. In early American Puritan culture, God was the center, the cause of all events, and irreplaceable. The center lacks equivalent value and cannot be exchanged; it is the ultimate origin and reference.

The center limits play and guarantees full presence, acting as a 'transcendental signified.' Because it’s irreplaceable, it can’t be represented by any particular signifier. The center exists both within and outside the structure, escaping structurality, making its concept 'contradictorily coherent.'

Rupture and the Structurality of Structure

Derrida, in his essay ‘Structure, Sign, and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences,’ discusses a rupture where structuralism allowed philosophy to think about itself differently, recognizing the 'structurality of structure.'

Prior to this rupture, Western philosophy substituted one centered system for another (e.g., God replaced by the human mind, then the unconscious). Structuralism revealed the center as a construct, not truth, and highlighted its role in providing presence.

Derrida questions how to discuss systems without creating new centered systems. Thinkers like Nietzsche, Freud, and Heidegger attempted centerless systems but failed. It is impossible to 'speak outside the system' because any critique uses the system's terms. Even questioning signs relies on the fixed meaning of 'sign.'

Derrida's and other poststructuralist works are difficult because they constantly remind readers of the instability of meaning.

Deconstruction as a Reading Strategy

Deconstruction is a strategy for reading that identifies a text's center, its system of 'truth' and 'meaning,' and then examines its self-contradictions. Every text creates its own world with terms and premises, using an idea or concept as a central anchor. The aim is to dismantle that center and observe the effects on the structure.

The center limits 'play,' maintaining concepts in firm relation. Deconstruction seeks places where the structure falters, where binary opposites blur.

Levi-Strauss and the Incest Prohibition

Derrida’s deconstructive reading of Claude Levi-Strauss's The Elementary Structures of Kinship examines the nature/culture dichotomy. Levi-Strauss defines 'nature' as universal and 'culture' as specific. However, the incest prohibition is both universal (every culture has one) and specific (each culture defines it differently). This contradiction shakes the system, as terms refuse to stay on their designated sides of the slash.

Binary systems rely on stable structures (good/evil, light/dark). If one pair slides, all terms slide, destabilizing the structure. Deconstruction finds these moments in texts, where definitive meaning breaks down, and ambiguity takes over. A deconstructive reading examines a text against itself, seeking inconsistencies.

Choices After Deconstruction

After deconstructing a system, one can either discard it for a new structure without inconsistencies (which Derrida finds impossible) or embrace 'bricolage.'

Bricolage

Bricolage, chosen by Levi-Strauss, accepts that the structure is unstable and its terms have play. The system no longer claims 'truth' but acknowledges itself as a construct built around a chosen central idea that cannot eliminate play.

A 'bricoleur' uses what is available to complete a task without concern for purity or stability. Quotation marks signal awareness that a signifier lacks stable meaning. Bricolage views meaning as provisional and shifting.

Derrida contrasts the bricoleur with the engineer, who creates stable systems with little play. The engineer sees himself as the origin of his own discourse; the humanist is often an engineer in this sense.

Bricolage allows for thinking about systems without building new stable systems, establishing new centers, privileged references, origins, or truths. It inspires creativity by enabling the new composition of ideas. Systems exist on a continuum between play and stability. Western culture prefers stable systems, promising 'full presence,' but every system has contradictions that deconstruction reveals.

Language has no discernible center, lacking a 'God' to determine word meanings. Language users want both stability (fixed meanings for communication) and play (ambiguity for creativity). We differentiate between 'everyday' language (fixed meaning for communication) and 'literary' language (fluidity for pleasure).