Post-Derridian Theorists

Paper Summary:

This paper examines whether it is justified for literary scholars to critique Derrida and post-structuralism as apolitical. It is evident that such criticism is accurate, for Derrida's theory of language holds that there is no inherent relationship between the linguistic signifier and the signified. The paper shows that this is broad implications, for accepting this denial of a relationship between signifier and signified requires acknowledgement that the meaning of a word issues from the structure of language itself.

From the Paper:

"In analyzing whether it is justified for literary scholars to critique Derrida and post-structuralism as apolitical, it is evident that such criticism is accurate, for Derrida's theory of language holds that there is no inherent relationship between the linguistic signifier and the signified. This is broad implications, for accepting this denial of a relationship between signifier and signified requires acknowledgement that the meaning of a word issues from the structure of language itself. Even more implications ensue because of Derrida's argument that words gain their meaning through the process of difference, which he described as a dual process involving differing and deferring. In this theoretical process, every element has to refer to the other element in order to define itself."

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