Logocentrism

The term logocentrism is derived from the Greek word logos, which means word, speech, or reason. The term most commonly refers to philosophy's relentless search to find true meaning within the realm of theory and ideas. Concomitant with this search is a disdain for the material world of practice. Synonymous with logocentrism is phonocentrism (the favoring of speech over writing) and the metaphysics of presence (the belief in a reliable, apparent relationship between signifier and signified). The French thinker Jacques Derrida (b. 1930) (along with his deconstructionist followers) developed the concept of logocentrism in an effort to critique, relativize, and contextualize Western philosophy.

One of the main features of the structuralist approach to society and philosophy, as advocated by thinkers such as Claude Lévi-Strauss (b. 1908) and Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913), is the discovery of binary oppositions that organize life and how we understand it. Examples of this are reason/superstition, order/chaos, male/female, and so forth. In each one of these binaries, one term is dominant over the other, adding a hierarchical dimension to the structuralist approach. This privileging of one term over the other is another way in which logocentrism is understood.

Logocentrism is not only the privileging of one idea or social category over another but also the favoring of one word over another word, which may imply the favoring of one kind of reasoning or argumentation over another. The structuralists, along with the rest of philosophy and science since Plato, have distanced their writings from literature by claiming to place an authoritative meaning behind the language they use. Reading science or philosophy then becomes theological in the sense that we are constantly in search of what the author “really meant.” Given the ambiguities that exist when a reader independently interprets a text, philosophy has always favored speech over the written word, viewing the latter as an unfortunate necessity. In a lecture, for example, one can seemingly explain, field questions, and clarify with ease. Philosophy has always operated in the binary hierarchy of speech over writing but has never realized that both are equally subject to the whims and limitations of language. Meaning can never be truly and reliably expressed if one plays with language (whether spoken or written) enough. This deconstructs yet another binary that has always been assumed as true, namely, meaning over language. Inextricably linked with logocentrism, Derrida calls this disdain for the written word and favoring of the speech act phonocentrism.

Logocentrism implies that the binary oppositions that organize our lives are reliable and descriptive of how things really are. For example, consider the West/East dichotomy. The West has often been associated with progress, science, reason, and culture, while the East is often characterized as backward, mystical, superstitious, and natural. This method of understanding the world has been called the metaphysics of presence. In other words, some form of putatively pure presence (e.g., speech or the male genitalia) is assumed to be superior to its purported binary opposite (e.g., writing or the female sex organs). According to deconstructionists, this metaphysics has always been the basis of philosophical [Page 453]and scientific thinking. While this mode of thought provides a very easy way to process and view the world, it never adequately describes the complexities of society, and it arbitrarily constructs oppressive hierarchies.

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