Derrida, Jacques (1930–2004)

The Algerian-born French philosopher Jacques Derrida was a prolific writer whose influence extended to such varied fields as literary theory and semiotics as well as philosophy. Among the many issues addressed in his work is the concept of time. Noteworthy for his pervasive use of irony, Derrida is a master of playfulness. There is, for instance, an element of risk in his philosophy because he contends that his thought might not mean anything. Overall, Derrida offers no thesis and no philosophical position, because any distinctions that he makes he also undermines at the same time. Even though he leaves a reader with no identifiable philosophical position, he does adopt a method that he calls deconstruction

Derrida's method promises to undo what he calls onto-theology, which can be identified with metaphysics, or what he calls logocentrism, which Derrida defines as the subordination of writing to the spoken word (logos). He equates logocentrism with the metaphysics of presence, which is the archenemy of deconstruction. As an expression of the metaphysics of presence, the fundamental error of logocentrism represents an illusion that reality and its categories are directly present to the mind.

Deconstruction is a method that does not produce anything, but it does reveal what is already present in a text. It is possible to grasp deconstruction as a simultaneous dismantling and building up because whatever position is taken is immediately negated. Deconstruction is exorbitant in the sense of exceeding the track of its orb. By passing through the line that it traces, deconstruction is a double crossing: a breaking through and a violation. Its exorbitant nature also means going beyond what is reasonable, just, or proper. In this regard, deconstruction undermines the propriety of reason.

Deconstruction is also a kind of double reading because it retraces a text to its limits, and it also marks the limits of a text. It is the trace that exposes the blank spaces of the text, that indicates what the text fails to constrain. At the same time, the process of deconstruction leaves tracks in the text in the form of remarks, that are like memory. This suggests that a track is already in a text, and it is only revealed by deconstruction, a process that also leaves a track in the original text. This implies that deconstruction leaves a text not dissimilar from its condition prior to deconstruction, but yet it is not the same. The remarks cut the text, and they perform an act of castration, so to speak, by clipping the logos of the text. The basic aim of deconstruction is to return to the metaphoric, poetic language where the power of signification has not been exhausted, in a process that leads to greater self-awareness. Being the deconstructionist, Derrida performs like a mime who occupies a position outside, or on the edges of the logocentric Western tradition. The mime's actions allude to nothing, reflect no reality, and produce merely effects of reality.

Because the concept of time is connected intimately with metaphysics and its concomitant presence, there is no alternative notion of time possible from the viewpoint of Derrida. As this is the case for Derrida, an alternative approach to the problem of time and its metaphysics of presence is his neologism différance, which is a finite movement preceding and structuring all opposition, that possesses a [Page 290]spatiotemporal significance for Der rida. Différance originates before all differences, and its “ance” ending indicates that it is neither simply a word nor a concept; it is neither active nor passive; and it is neither existence nor essence. It makes no appearance because it is not a phenomenal entity, whereas its movement represents a play of traces. This play of traces possesses no sense, because by presenting itself, a trace simultaneously effaces itself.

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