Jacques Derrida Vs Ferdinand De Saussure)

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Jacques Derrida Vs Ferdinand De Saussure) Writing in Deconstruction vs Speech in Structuralism (Jacques Derrida vs Ferdinand de Saussure) Bagiu, Lucian Published in: Transilvania 2009 Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Bagiu, L. (2009). Writing in Deconstruction vs Speech in Structuralism (Jacques Derrida vs Ferdinand de Saussure). Transilvania, XXXVII (CXIII)(8), 79-87. http://www.revistatransilvania.ro/nou/ro/anul-editorial- 2009/doc_download/26-numrul-82009.html Total number of authors: 1 General rights Unless other specific re-use rights are stated the following general rights apply: Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal Read more about Creative commons licenses: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. LUND UNIVERSITY PO Box 117 221 00 Lund +46 46-222 00 00 Lucian BÂGIU Universitatea Norvegiană de Ştiinţe şi Tehnologie din Trondheim, Facultatea de Arte The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Faculty of Arts Writing in Deconstruction vs Speech in Structuralism (Jacques Derrida vs Ferdinand de Saussure) Writing in Deconstruction “vs” Speech in Structuralism Speech is already in itself a writing. Any concept that is to name, to stay for the abstract or concrete reality is made up of a mental trace. There is always a sleepy-waiting yet ever present trace at the origin of the representation and the naming of any ontological phenomenon. The trace is itself The apriori ontology – and this is how writing is pre-eminent to the later formal verbalization of any already traced concept of any abstract or concrete phenomenon of reality. The trace is the very possibility of the existence. The whole reality is originally “written”, then existing and finally spoken. Keywords: grammatology, linguistics, logocentrism, speech, writing Institution’s address: postal address: N-7491, Trondheim, Norway; visiting address: Departmental office, room 5557 in building 5, level 5 at Dragvoll campus; tel.: + 47 73 59 68 03, fax: + 47 73 59 65 12 Personal e-mail: [email protected] documenting expression is that it makes communications possible without immediate or acques Derrida points out in his second mediate personal address; it is, so to speak, J chapter, Linguistics and Gramma tology, communication become virtual. Through this, the J communalization of man is lifted to a new level. of his 1967, Of Grammatology that speech is a form of writing. To sustain this Written signs are, when considering from a purely apparent paradox he begins with a quotation from J.- corporeal point of view, straightforwardly, sensibly J. Rousseau and ends his argumentation with experience; and it is always possible they be Husserl’s vision. Though much of Derrida’s debate intersubjectively experienceable in common. But as concerns Saussure’s linguistics, his tone is that of a linguistic signs they awaken, as do linguistic sounds, speculative yet charismatic philosopher. Though their familiar significations. The awakening is Derrida might not convince in his linguistic something passive; the awakened signification is thus approach, however he certainly makes the given passively, similarly to the way in which any philosopher within every of its presumed readers other activity which has sunk into obscurity, once think twice. associatively awakened, emerges at first passively as a “Writing is only the representation of speech, it is more or less clear memory. In the passivity in bizarre that more care is given to determining the question here, as in the case of memory, what is image than the object.” (Rousseau 1990: 336). This passively awakened can be transformed back, so to quotation from Rousseau is the starting point for speak, into the corresponding activity: this is the Derrida to demonstrate exactly the opposite, capacity of reactivation that belongs originally to reaching Husserl’s assertion: before being the object every human being as a speaking being. Accordingly, of a science (concerned with language or the whole then, the writing-down effects a transformation of ontology), writing is much more, writing is the very the original mode of being of the meaning structure, apriori condition of the episteme. [e.g.] within the geometrical sphere of self-evidence, “The important function of written, of the geometrical structure which is put into words. 79 >>> / 2009 8 a i n a v l i s n a r T It becomes sedimented, so to speak.” (Husserl, 1989: Derrida emphasizes that Saussure’s definition is 164). fundamentally incomplete since it only applies to a For this Derrida makes war with the idea of certain type of writing: the phonetic writing. Yet, Linguistics as the science of language, revealing the writing – and language in general (thus linguistics false assumption on which it was raised in the first implicitly) – is a function in fact never completely place: the phonological foundations of Linguistics are phonetic. Completely subjective and rather absurd, looked down upon as the original sin of a later Saussure’s highly capricious and preferential structural corruption of the scientific perspective definition of the linguistic object outlaws writing and concerned with language. Derrida states that there is consequently totally ignores it as the episteme: “The a very consolidated tradition of the phonological linguistic object is not the written and the spoken orientation of Linguistics, Troubetzkoy, Jakobson forms of word: the spoken forms alone constitute the and Martinet being the mere perfectionists of object” (Saussure 1974: 23-24). For Saussure the Saussure’s intention, this being the reason for which spoken word is already a combination of sense and Derrida’s deconstruction is applied prevalent to the sound and he imposes a new terminology that applies texts of the later mentioned, as Saussure is considered to the domain of spoken language alone, an essential the initial responsible and most guilty of them all. detail ignored afterwards: “I propose to retain the The phonological perspective states that there is a word sign (signe) to designate the whole and to privileged articulated unity where the significance replace concept and sound-image respectively by and the acts of language are possible: that is the unity signified (signifié) and signifier (signifiant)” (Saussure of sound and sense within the phonic. This is how 1974: 67). Consequently, in Saussure’s vision writing writing came to be thought derivative, accidental, has to be phonetic, writing is the outside dimension, particular, exterior, doubling the phonic aspect of the exterior representation of language and of the language. Aristotle, Rousseau and Hegel considered “thought-sound” unit. The units of significations writing as “sign of a sign”, and for Derrida this means function without any contribution from writing, the “reduction of writing to the rank of an they are preexistent, writing played no part in the instrumental enslaved to a full and originarily spoken process of birth of language, yet it has to operate language” (Derrida 2002: 29). As a reaction to this with spoken language as such. According to Derrida, tremendous injustice and false thinking Derrida writing has the undeserved status of the outcast and proposes nothing less than a new science, called solely the fascination of the original phonetic unit Grammatology, “of which linguistics-phonology Saussure imposed prevented writing from being the would be only a dependent and circumscribed area” rightful protagonist of the “drama” called language. (Derrida 2002: 30). Derrida pays much attention to his approach in For Saussure the essence of language remains arguing the pre-emption of writing. He dismisses forever uncontaminated by writing: “… language such simple syllogisms as: “Most people pay more does have a definite and stable oral tradition that is attention to visual impressions simply because these independent of writing, but the influence of the are sharper and more lasting than aural impressions” written form prevents or seeing this.” (Saussure 1974: (Saussure 1974: 25). For him, such an explanation is 24). However, Saussure is not original in this respect, even dangerous because makes out visibility “the for he only reasserts what Plato and Aristotle stated tangible, simple, and essential element of writing” long time before, according to them writing being (Derrida 2002: 42). This is only one of the paradoxes restricted to the model of phonetic script and the Derrida uses in his study, yet we must note that for language of words. Aristotle’s definition in this him writing does not seems to be what one is respect is the following: “Spoken words are the commonly used to. Moreover, he speculates on an symbols of mental experience and written words are assertion made by Saussure, which could also be the symbols of spoken words” (Aristotle 1990: 25 [1, considered as a paradox: “The thing that constitutes 16a 4-6]). Saussure’s definition is nothing but an language is (…) unrelated to the phonic character of echo: “Language and writing are two distinct systems the linguistic sign” (Saussure 1974: 7). Thus, for of signs; the second exists for the sole purpose of Derrida language is not phonic and writing is not representing the first” (Saussure 1974: 23). We point visible. If language is not phonic (though the out that Aristotle mentions the “mental experience” linguistic sign might be), then writing is not an as the first step of spoken words, a step highly “image” or “figuration” of language, writing is not ignored afterwards and out of which Derrida will sign of a sign.
Recommended publications
  • Article-755-623839.Pdf
    دوﻣﺎﻫﻨﺎﻣﺔ ﻋﻠﻤﻲ - ﭘﮋوﻫﺸﻲ 9د ، ش 1 (ﭘﻴﺎﭘﻲ 43 )، ﻓﺮوردﻳﻦ و اردﻳﺒﻬﺸﺖ 1397 ، ﺻﺺ 81 - 111 ﺗﺤﻠﻴﻞ ﻛﺎرﻛﺮد ﮔﻔﺘﻤﺎﻧﻲ ﻃﻨﺰ در ﺑﺎب اول ﮔﻠﺴﺘﺎن ﺳﻌﺪي؛ روﻳﻜﺮد ﻧﺸﺎﻧﻪ ﻣﻌﻨﺎﺷﻨﺎﺳﻲ ﻗﻬﺮﻣﺎن ﺷﻴﺮي1 ، ﻧﺠﻤﻪ ﻧﻈﺮي2 ، ﻧﻮﺷﻴﻦ ﺑﻬﺮاﻣﻲ ﭘﻮر3* 1 . اﺳﺘﺎد ﮔﺮوه زﺑﺎن و ادﺑﻴﺎت ﻓﺎرﺳﻲ داﻧﺸﮕﺎه ﺑﻮﻋﻠﻲ ﺳﻴﻨﺎ، ﻫﻤﺪان، اﻳﺮان 2 . اﺳﺘﺎدﻳﺎر ﮔﺮوه زﺑﺎن و ادﺑﻴﺎت ﻓﺎرﺳﻲ داﻧﺸﮕﺎه ﺑﻮﻋﻠﻲ ﺳﻴﻨﺎ ، ﻫﻤﺪان، اﻳﺮان 3 . داﻧﺸﺠﻮي دﻛﺘﺮي زﺑﺎن و ادﺑﻴﺎت ﻓﺎرﺳﻲ داﻧﺸﮕﺎه ﺑﻮﻋﻠﻲ ﺳﻴﻨﺎ ، ﻫﻤﺪان، اﻳﺮان درﻳﺎﻓﺖ: /4/24 96 ﭘﺬﻳﺮش: /8/6 96 96 ﭼﻜﻴﺪه ﻫﺪف اﻳﻦ ﻣﻘﺎﻟﻪ ﭘﻴﺎده ﺳﺎزي روش ﻧﺸﺎﻧﻪ ﻣﻌﻨﺎﺷﻨﺎﺳﻲ ﺑﺮاي دﺳﺘ ﻴﺎﺑﻲ ﺑﻪ اﻟﮕﻮ ﻳﺎ اﻟﮕﻮﻫﺎي ﺣﺎﻛﻢ ﺑﺮ ﻓﺮاﻳﻨﺪﻫﺎي ﻣﻌﻨﺎﻳ ﻲ ﻛﻨﺸﻲ و ﺗﻨﺸﻲ و ﻧﺸﺎن دادنِ ﺗﺄﺛﻴﺮ ﺟﺮﻳﺎن زﻳﺒﺎﻳﻲ ﺷﻨﺎﺧﺘﻲ ﺑﺮ ﻓﺮاﻳﻨﺪﻫﺎي ﻣﺬﻛﻮر در ﺑﺴﺘﺮ ﮔﻔﺘﻤﺎن ﻃﻨﺰ ﺑﺎب اول ﮔﻠﺴﺘﺎن ﺳﻌﺪي اﺳﺖ واز اﻳﻦ ﺟﻬﺖ، ﻧﺨﺴﺘﻴﻦ ﻛﻮﺷﺶ ﺑﻪ ﺷﻤﺎر ﻣﻲ آﻳﺪ. ﻣﻘﺼﻮد از ﻃﻨﺰ، ﺳﺨﻦ ﻣﻄﺎﻳﺒﻪ آﻣﻴﺰِ اﻧﺘﻘﺎدي اﺳﺖ ﻛﻪ ﺑ ﺎ ﻫﺪف اﺻﻼح اﺟﺘﻤﺎﻋﻲ و ﺑﻪ ﻛﻤﻚ ﺟﺮﻳﺎن زﻳﺒﺎﻳﻲ ﺷﻨﺎﺧﺘﻲ در ز ﺑﺎن ﺷﻜﻞ ﻣﻲ ﮔﻴﺮد و ﺑﺎ ﻫﺰل و ﻫﺠﻮ ﻓﺮق دارد. روش ﻧﺸﺎﻧﻪ ﻣﻌﻨﺎﺷﻨﺎﺳﻲ در ﭘﻲ ﺗﺠﺰﻳﻪ و ﺗﺤﻠﻴﻞ ﮔﻔﺘﻤﺎن ﺑﺮاي ﭘﻲ ﺑﺮدن ﺑﻪ ﺷﺮاﻳﻂ ﺗﻮﻟﻴﺪ و درﻳﺎﻓﺖ آن اﺳﺖ. ﻧﺸﺎﻧﻪ ﻣﻌﻨﺎﺷﻨﺎس ﺑﺎ ﻣﺠﻤﻮﻋﻪ اي ﻣﻌﻨﺎدار روﺑﻪ روﺳﺖ ﻛﻪ در ﻣﺮﺣﻠﺔ ﻧﺨﺴﺖ ﻓﺮﺿﻴﻪ ﻫﺎي ﻣﻌﻨﺎﻳﻲ و ﻧﻮع ارﺗﺒﺎط آن ﻫﺎ ﺑﺎ ﻳﻜﺪﻳﮕﺮ را در ﻧﻈ ﺮ ﻣﻲ ﮔﻴﺮد . ﺳﭙﺲ ، ﺑﻪ ﺟﺴﺖ وﺟﻮي ﺻﻮرت ﻫﺎﻳﻲ ﻛﻪ ﺑﺎ اﻳﻦ ﻓﺮﺿﻴﻪ ﻫﺎي ﻣﻌﻨﺎﻳﻲ ﻣﻄﺎﺑﻘﺖ دارﻧﺪ، ﻣﻲ ﭘﺮدازد ﺗﺎ اﺛﺒﺎت آن ﻓﺮﺿﻴﻪ ﻫﺎ ﻣﻴﺴﺮ ﺷﻮد. ﻓﺮﺿﻴﺔ ﭘﮋوﻫﺶ ﺣﺎﺿﺮ اﻳﻦ اﺳﺖ ﻛﻪ ﻓﺮاﻳﻨﺪ ﻣﻌﻨﺎﻳﻲ در ﮔﻔﺘﻤﺎن ﻃﻨﺰ ﻧﻈﺎم ﻛﻨﺸﻲ را ﺑﻪ ﺗﻨﺸﻲ ﺗﺒﺪﻳﻞ ﻣﻲ ﻛﻨﺪ و ﺑﺎ ﺑﺮﻗﺮاري ﺗﻌﺎﻣﻞ ﺑﻴﻦ اﺑﻌﺎد ﻓﺸﺎره اي (ﻋﺎﻃﻔﻲ، دروﻧﻲ) و ﮔﺴﺘﺮه اي (ﺷﻨﺎﺧﺘﻲ، ﺑﻴﺮوﻧﻲ) ﻓﻀﺎﻳﻲ ﺳﻴﺎل را ﻣﻲ آﻓﺮﻳﻨﺪ ﻛﻪ ﺧﻠﻖ ﻣﻌﻨﺎﻳﻲ ﺑﺪﻳﻊ را ﻣﻤﻜﻦ ﻣﻲ ﺳﺎزد.
    [Show full text]
  • Phenomenology As Philosophy and Method Applications to Ways of Doing Special Education
    Phenomenology As Philosophy and Method Applications to Ways of Doing Special Education JEAN C. McPHAIL ABSTRACT 1 HENOMENOLOGY IS A PHILOSOPHICAL MOVEMENT The theoretical positions of the preceding two texts THAT APPROACHES THE STUDY OF HUMAN BEINGS AND THEIR create significantly different orientations to the life worlds CULTURE DIFFERENTLY FROM THE LOGICAL POSITIVIST MODEL of people. The quote by Merleau-Ponty describes the USED IN THE NATURAL SCIENCES AND IN SPECIAL EDUCA- essential focus of the phenomenological movement in TION. PHENOMENOLOGISTS VIEW THE APPLICATION OF THE philosophy—human consciousness. The Individualized Edu- LOGICAL POSITIVIST MODEL TO THE STUDY OF HUMAN BEINGS cation Program written for a 13-year-old young man with AS INAPPROPRIATE BECAUSE THE MODEL DOES NOT ADDRESS learning disabilities characterizes the prevalent view of THE UNIQUENESS OF HUMAN LIFE. IN THIS ARTICLE, THE individuals working in the field of special education—an THEORETICAL ASSUMPTIONS AND METHODOLOGICAL orientation directed toward changing the behavior of indi- ORIENTATIONS OF PHENOMENOLOGY ARE DISCUSSED, viduals with disabilities. Whereas phenomenology privi- FOLLOWED BY THEIR APPLICATIONS TO WAYS OF DOING leges the nature of the meanings that people construct in RESEARCH IN SPECIAL EDUCATION. their lives and that guide their actions, special education focuses on the study and practice of behavioral change outside the context of the life meanings of individuals with disabilities. The shift that Bruner (1990) described in the early stages of the cognitive revolution from an emphasis on the "construction of meaning to the processing of mean- P. HENOMENOLOGY IS AN INVENTORY OF CON- ing" (p. 4) aptly characterizes the essential differences JLsciousness HEN( as of that wherein a universe resides.
    [Show full text]
  • Derrida's Open and Its Closure: the Aporia of Différance and the Only
    Language, Literature, and Interdisciplinary Studies (LLIDS) ISSN: 2547-0044 http://ellids.com/archives/2018/09/2.1-Wu.pdf CC Attribution-No Derivatives 4.0 International License www.ellids.com Derrida’s Open and Its Closure: The Aporia of Différance and the Only Logic of Thinking Mengxue Wu “…for an opening is relative to a ‘surrounding plenitude.’”1 “The gallery is the labyrinth which includes in itself its own exits: we have never come upon it as upon a particular case of experience—that which Husserl believes he is describing.”2 Metaphysics—the entire history of metaphysics has been considered as the metaphysics of presence—is closed; it is closed like a dead end. In its “surrounding plenitude” no exit can be found and it is meeting its own death. Though a system of philosophy with incompleteness is not a perfect theory, but the rebuke of how comprehensive and close a philosophy is and the demand of that philosophy to open its house to the alien and the ungraspable would be a preposterous importunity. However, upon the stage where the entire history of Western philosophy has been played, “…nothing is staged or displayed theatrically. Rather, the battle of the new gods against the old is being fought” (Heidegger 22). This battle, between the new gods and the old, between the new thoughts and the old, is a battle of breaking into new ruptures and finding new openings in the old thoughts. At the moment when traditional philosophy has become a closure of the metaphysics of presence, even those streams of thought that already broke new phenomenological grounds in the beginning of twentieth century and Levinas’s ethical breaking are closed “as the self-presence in absolute knowledge” (Derrida 102, SP).
    [Show full text]
  • Vietnamese Existential Philosophy: a Critical Reappraisal
    VIETNAMESE EXISTENTIAL PHILOSOPHY: A CRITICAL REAPPRAISAL A Dissertation Submitted to the Temple University Graduate Board In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Hi ền Thu Lươ ng May, 2009 i © Copyright 2009 by Hi ền Thu Lươ ng ii ABSTRACT Title: Vietnamese Existential Philosophy: A Critical Reappraisal Lươ ng Thu Hi ền Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Temple University, 2009 Doctoral Advisory Committee Chair: Lewis R. Gordon In this study I present a new understanding of Vietnamese existentialism during the period 1954-1975, the period between the Geneva Accords and the fall of Saigon in 1975. The prevailing view within Vietnam sees Vietnamese existentialism during this period as a morally bankrupt philosophy that is a mere imitation of European versions of existentialism. I argue to the contrary that while Vietnamese existential philosophy and European existentialism share some themes, Vietnamese existentialism during this period is rooted in the particularities of Vietnamese traditional culture and social structures and in the lived experience of Vietnamese people over Vietnam’s 1000-year history of occupation and oppression by foreign forces. I also argue that Vietnamese existentialism is a profoundly moral philosophy, committed to justice in the social and political spheres. Heavily influenced by Vietnamese Buddhism, Vietnamese existential philosophy, I argue, places emphasis on the concept of a non-substantial, relational, and social self and a harmonious and constitutive relation between the self and other. The Vietnamese philosophers argue that oppressions of the mind must be liberated and that social structures that result in violence must be changed. Consistent with these ends Vietnamese existentialism proposes a multi-perspective iii ontology, a dialectical view of human thought, and a method of meditation that releases the mind to be able to understand both the nature of reality as it is and the means to live a moral, politically engaged life.
    [Show full text]
  • Understanding Poststructuralism Understanding Movements in Modern Thought Series Editor: Jack Reynolds
    understanding poststructuralism Understanding Movements in Modern Thought Series Editor: Jack Reynolds Th is series provides short, accessible and lively introductions to the major schools, movements and traditions in philosophy and the history of ideas since the beginning of the Enlightenment. All books in the series are written for undergraduates meeting the subject for the fi rst time. Published Understanding Existentialism Understanding Virtue Ethics Jack Reynolds Stan van Hooft Understanding Poststructuralism James Williams Forthcoming titles include Understanding Empiricism Understanding Hermeneutics Robert Meyers Lawrence Schmidt Understanding Ethics Understanding Naturalism Tim Chappell Jack Ritchie Understanding Feminism Understanding Phenomenology Peta Bowden and Jane Mummery David Cerbone Understanding German Idealism Understanding Rationalism Will Dudley Charlie Heunemann Understanding Hegelianism Understanding Utilitarianism Robert Sinnerbrink Tim Mulgan understanding poststructuralism James Williams For Richard and Olive It is always about who you learn from. © James Williams, 2005 Th is book is copyright under the Berne Convention. No reproduction without permission. All rights reserved. First published in 2005 by Acumen Acumen Publishing Limited 15a Lewins Yard East Street Chesham Bucks HP5 1HQ www.acumenpublishing.co.uk ISBN 1-84465-032-4 (hardcover) ISBN 1-84465-033-2 (paperback) Work on Chapter 3 was supported by British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
    [Show full text]
  • Post-Continental Philosophy: Its Definition, Contours, and Fundamental Sources
    Post-continental Philosophy: Its Definition, Contours, and Fundamental Sources NELSON MALDONADO-TORRES It is no accident that the global geographical framework in use today is essentially a cartographic celebration of European power. After centuries of imperialism, the presumptions of a worldview of a once-dominant metropole has become part of the intellectual furniture of the world…. Metageography matters, and the attempt to engage it critically has only begun. Martin W. Lewis and Kären W. Wigen, The Myth of Continents.1 or several decades now the contours of legitimate philosophy have been drawn by advocates of F so-called analytic and continental philosophies. Analytic philosophy is often referred to as a style of thinking centered on the question of whether something is true, rather than, as continental philosophy, on the multiple factors that constitute meaning.2 Analytic philosophy is also said to be closer to the sciences, while continental philosophy has more affinity with the humanities.3 One of the reasons for this lies in that while analytic philosophy tends to dismiss history from its reflections, continental philosophy typically emphasizes the relevance of time, tradition, lived experience, and/or social context. Fortunately, this situation is slowly but gradually changing today. A variety of intellectuals are defying the rigid boundaries of these fields. Some of the most notable are Afro- American, Afro-Caribbean, and Latina/o scholars using the arsenal of these bodies of thought to analyze and interpret problems related to colonialism, racism, and sexism in the contemporary world.4 These challenges demand a critical analysis of the possibilities and limits of change within the main coordinates of these different styles or forms of philosophizing.
    [Show full text]
  • 5 Derrida's Critique of Husserl and the Philosophy
    5 DERRIDA’S CRITIQUE OF HUSSERL AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF PRESENCE David B. Allison* Now would be the time to reject the myths of inductivity and of the Wesenschau, which are transmitted, as points of honor, from generation to generation. ...Am I primitively the power to contemplate, a pure look which fixes the things in their temporal and local place and the essences in an invisible heaven; am I this ray of knowing that would have to 1 arise from nowhere? SÍNTESE – O autor reexamina a crítica de Derrida ABSTRACT – The author reexamines Derrida’s à fenomenologia de Husserl de forma a mostrar critique of Husserl’s phenomenology, so as to como a sua coerência estrutural emerge não show how its structural coherency arises not so tanto de uma redução a uma doutrina particular, much from the reduction to a particular doctrine, mas antes das exigências de uma concepção but rather from the demands of a unitary concep- unitária, especificamente impostas pelas deter- tion, specifically from the demands imposed by minações epistemológicas e metafísicas da the epistemological and metaphysical determina- presença. tions of presence. PALAVRAS-CHAVE – Desconstrução. Derrida. KEY WORDS – Deconstruction. Derrida. Husserl. Fenomenologia. Husserl. Presença. Significado. Meaning. Phenomenology. Presence. * Doutor. Professor, State University of New York, Stony Brook, EUA. 1 Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Le Visible et l’invisible (Paris: Editions Gallimard, 1964), Eng. tr., Alphonso Lingis, The Visible and the Invisible (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1968). pp. 113-116. VERITAS Porto Alegre v. 50 n. 1 Março 2005 p. 89-99 It is practically a truism to say that most of Husserl’s commentators have in- sisted on the rigorously systematic character of his writings.
    [Show full text]
  • The Science of Writing
    The Science of Writing Introduction In 1967 the French philosopher, Jacques Derrida, published in book form a collection of texts he had been composing, under the title De la Grammatologie, Of Grammatology.1 The book was translated into English in 1974 by Gayatri Spivak and, with its one-hundred-page translator’s introduction, constituted the first major introduction to Derrida for English-speaking audiences. In 1985 an American professor of English Literature, Gregory Ulmer, published his engagement with Derrida under the title, Applied Grammatology: Post(e) Pedagogy from Jacques Derrida to Joseph Beuys.2 Ulmer’s investigation is one of the very few instances where Derrida’s mention of ‘grammatology’ is taken up at length. In July 2008, at the Derrida Today conference held at the University of Sydney, in Australia, the French Derrida scholar, Catherine Malabou, presented a key note address that probed the fate of Derrida’s notion of ‘grammatology’ and how its question might be re-engaged or re-invented today.3 By ‘grammatology,’ Derrida inferred a ‘science of writing,’ though an approach to the question of writing that radically engages with the question of science, of truth and of knowing. And if Ulmer activates the question posed by grammatology, it is in order to question a scene of teaching the radically questions writing as such. This paper aims at asking if the work of Derrida and Ulmer has continued relevance for a radicalising of the scene of teaching precisely by a critical engagement with what we commonly name as writing and what we commonly understand as its agency.
    [Show full text]
  • Continental Philosophies of the Social Sciences David Teira
    Continental philosophies of the social sciences David Teira 1. Introduction In my view, there is no such thing as a continental philosophy of the social sciences. There is, at least, no consensual definition of what is precisely continental in any philosophical approach. 1 Besides, there are many approaches in the philosophy of the social sciences that are often qualified as continental , but there is no obvious connection between them. The most systematic attempt so far to find one is Yvonne Sherratt’s (2006) monograph, where continental approaches would be appraised as different branches of the Humanist tradition. According to Sherratt, philosophers in this tradition draw on the ideas and arguments of the ancient Greek and Roman thinkers, since they understand philosophy as an accumulative endeavor, where the past is a continuous source of wisdom. Unlike empiricist philosophers in the analytic tradition, humanists see the world as an intrinsically purpose-laden, ethically, aesthetically, and spiritually valuable entity . However, once you adopt such a broad definition in order to encompass such different thinkers as Marx, Nietzsche, Heidegger or Foucault, it seems difficult not to see humanistic traits in analytic philosophers as well. Moreover, when it comes to the philosophical study of actual social sciences, it is not clear whether adopting a humanistic stance makes, as such, any difference in the analysis: as we will see below, the arguments of the continental philosophers discussed here do not presuppose a particular commitment with, e.g., ideas from classical Antiquity. Certain Greeks named those who did not speak their language Barbarians , but it was never clear who counted as a proper speaker of Greek.
    [Show full text]
  • PHI 516/GER 566/REL 516 Special Topics In
    PHI 516/GER 566/REL 516 Special Topics in History of Phil: Knowledge & Belief in Kant, Fichte, Hegel Instructor: Andrew Chignell ([email protected]) Spring 2020, Marx 201, Th 1:30-4:20 Office: 232 1879 Hall; Office Hours: Tues 4-5:30 and by appt A seminar on Kantian epistemology and pistology (the theory of faith or acceptance). Topics include: the nature and ethics of assent (holding-for-true); the nature of knowledge; fallibilism and infallibilism about epistemic justification; cognition and spontaneity; noumenal ignorance; opinion and common sense; epistemic autonomy; and the structure of practical arguments, both pragmatic and moral. In the final weeks of the seminar we will consider how some of these themes are treated by two of Kant’s most influential successors – J.G. Fichte and G.W.F. Hegel. Along the way, we will look at some broadly Kantian efforts in contemporary epistemology by authors like Mark Schroeder and Kurt Sylvan. Assignments: 1. Short reflections: Everyone taking the course for credit is asked to submit five 1-2 page reflections. Often these will simply elaborate a question about the reading, but they can also involve criticism or constructive work. These are due on Wednesday night before class at 11.59pm, and should focus on the readings for the following day’s class. Graded on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis, they are worth (combined) 30% of the grade. As long as you’re doing the required reading, it shouldn’t be hard to achieve full credit for this. 2. Presentation: Ph.D. students have the opportunity (but not the obligation) to give a short presentation to the seminar.
    [Show full text]
  • 'Langue' and 'Langage
    FOURNET, Arnaud. Some comparative and historical considerations about Ferdinand de Saussure's distinction between ‘langue’ and ‘langage’. ReVEL , vol. 8, n. 14, 2010. [www.revel.inf.br/eng]. SOME COMPARATIVE AND HISTORICAL CONSIDERATIONS ABOUT FERDINAND DE SAUSSURE ’S DISTINCTION BETWEEN ‘LANGUE ’ AND ‘LANGAGE ’ Arnaud Fournet 1 [email protected] ABSTRACT : Modern French has two words: langue and langage when English has only one: language , originally a loanword from Old French. The article investigates when and how French gradually used two words to distinguish the concept of a particular language ( langue ) and that of speech ability ( langage ). This split started around 1600 and was permanently established around 1800. KEYWORDS : Language; Structuralism; de Saussure. 1. ABOUT THE ENGLISH WORD ‘LANGUAGE ’ The present article originates in my personal realization that English only has one word: language whereas French has two words: langue and langage to describe linguistic activity, behavior, competence or faculty 2, in spite of the quite obvious historical fact that the English word is a loanword from (Old) French 3. So I set about looking for the reasons why the difference exists and what particular theoretical features it may entail. English somehow misses a word and it is interesting to investigate the causes and some potential consequences of that lexical want. It is worth noting that, following the impulse of Old French, several modern Romance languages display a similar difference between langue 4 and langage 5. The word langue is the 1 PhD from Université René Descartes. 2 Depending on the theoretical preferences of authors. 3 The English word begins to be attested in the time bracket: 1250-1300.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Figures of Ubicomp: Conceptualizing And
    FIGURES OF UBICOMP: CONCEPTUALIZING AND COMPOSING ACTIONABLE MEDIA By JOHN TINNELL A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2013 1 © 2013 John Tinnell 2 To Hutton 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like thank all of the amazing people in the English Department at the University of Florida, especially Greg Ulmer and Sid Dobrin. Greg’s work models everything I hope to achieve in my own. While I try to not follow his footsteps too obviously, I will always be seeking to further the insights and projects that his books so originally present. For me, Greg is among the masters that his motto gestures toward. Sid, perhaps more than anyone else, helped me come of age as a professional. Because of his constant encouragement and pinpoint advice, I felt as though I had made the transition from graduate student to Assistant Professor before I even started my dissertation. It would have been inconceivable for me to complete this project in under a year without that level of confidence and support. The other two members of my committee, Laurie Gries and Jack Stenner, provided me with vital feedback. Laurie’s capacity to respond to her students’ writing is unparalleled; she saw incongruencies in my writing to which I would otherwise still be blind. Jack voiced criticisms that I did not want to hear, which are the most important to hear. I thank my parents, emphatically, for their support and for doing what they are passionate about and always encouraging me to do the same.
    [Show full text]