Derrida's "Differance"

Paper Summary:

The paper exposes certain key and central issues present in "Differance" that place the work in a framework in which it can be clearly understood. The paper shows how Derrida moves beyond the dualism of traditional Western thought to expose a view of reality which assumes that there is a permanent truth that can be discerned behind appearance. The paper examines Derrida's belief that meaning and truth are not static and that understanding reality through language is not a simple matter of connecting the signifier with the signified or the word and its apparent designated meaning.

Outline:
Preamble
Understanding the text of Differance

From the Paper:

"Philosophy and Western thought has for centuries, since Platonic idealism, wrestled with the concept of a dualistic view of reality. The Platonic view of the ideal and the real forms constitute the underlying basis of Western thought. An implicit and critical part of Platonic thought is the separation between common reality and the ideal forms and Truth. This separation between being and Being is also, for Heidegger, the fundamental structure of Western metaphysics. The assumption of duality and reason as modes of reality in modern thought was radically questioned by Nietzsche and later in the works of Jacques Derrida and Martin Heidegger, among others."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Derrida, Jacques. Differance. Margins of Philosophy, Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1982, 3-27.
• Difference. 1997. March 16, 2006. http://www.brocku.ca/english/courses/4F70/diffr.html
• Differance 2. 16 March, 2006. http://www.angelfire.com/de/jwp/Differance.html
• Nuncio R, V. The TEXT and the LOGOS: Language Debate in Jacques Derrida's Deconstruction. 2002. 11 March, 2006. http://www.geocities.com/philodept/diwatao/derrida_and_saussure.htm

More papers on Derrida's "Differance":

• Analytical Essay # 116165 : "Differance: A Call to Disturbance"
• Term Paper # 97799 : "Derrida: The Project of Animality"
• Essay # 45108 : "Wittgenstein and Derrida"

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