Jacques Derrida

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Jacques Derrida
Grenz, S. J. (1996). A Primer on postmodernism.
Grand Rapids, MI Eerdmans
Powel, J. (1997). Derrida for beginners. New
York Writers and Readers.
http//personales.ciudad.com.ar/Derrida/fotos3/jaq
_derrida_03.jpg

• ? 2005 G. Lee Griffith, Ph. D.

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Language vs. Speech

• Language does not have a constant meaning
  connected to a fixed reality
• Speech has a connection to reality that writing
  does not have
• Derrida deconstructs both

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Logocentrism

• The assumption that something lies beyond our
  system of linguistic signs to which a written
  work can refer to substantiate its claim to be an
  authentic statement.

cow
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Rejection of Logocentrism

• Rejects written language as the carrier of
  meaning
• Do we trust speech or written language more?
• There is no transcendental basis for anchoring
  our language.
• There is no meaning outside the text.
• One can never reach the interpretation of a
  text
• One reading of a text is a preface to the next.

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Transcendental Signified

• Sign word ex. Cow
• Signifier the sound cow
• Signified the idea to which the word refers
• Referent the thing itself.
• Transcendental Signified the meaning beyond the
  universe that give meaning to everything else.

Powel, J. (1997). Derrida for beginners. New
York Writers and Readers.
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Reason Deconstructs Reason

• We must question reason with reason.
• We must use reason to deconstruct reason.

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Deconstruction

• Decentering
• The use of certain philosophical assumptions to
  launch an assault on logocentrism.
• Movement betweenbinary opposites
• Free play betweenvarious readings

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Derridas Primary Goal

• To divest us of the logocentrism
• By showing the impossibility of drawing a clear
  line between reality and our linguistic
  representations.
• He wants to wean us from assuming that we can
  discover the meaning inherent in a text.

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Christianity and Logocentrism

• There is meaning in the text that corresponds to
  a reality outside the text
• While any one persons interpretation of the text
  is flawed
• There are several checks on the interpretation of
  a text
• Texts are best understood inside an
  interpretational community

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Christian Checks on Interpretation

• No individual interpretations
• Consistent with context
• Consistent with the rest of Scripture
• Consistent with the way one can live
• Consistent with the real world.