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Deconstruction and différance
By Lucie Guillemette and Josiane Cossette
Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières lucie_guillemette@uqtr.ca 1. ABSTRACT`
DERRIDA

Jacques Derrida 's theory of the sign fits into the poststructuralist movement, which runs counter to Saussurean structuralism (the legacy of linguist Ferdinand de Saussure). Maintaining that the signifier (the form of a sign) refers directly to the signified (the content of a sign), structuralist theory has passed down a whole current of logocentric (speech-centred) thought that originated in the time of Plato. With writing as his basis (the written sign), Derrida has taken on the task of disrupting the entire stream of metaphysical thought predicated on oppositions. He has elaborated a theory of deconstruction (of discourse, and therefore of the world) that challenges the idea of a frozen structure and advances the notion that there is no structure or centre, no univocal meaning. The notion of a direct relationship between signifier and signified is no longer tenable, and instead we have infinite shifts in meaning relayed from one signifier to another
This text may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes, provided the complete reference is given:
Lucie Guillemette and Josiane Cossette (2006), « Deconstruction and différance », in Louis Hébert (dir.), Signo[online], Rimouski (Quebec), http://www.signosemio.com/derrida/deconstruction-and-differance.asp.
2. THEORY top 2.1 CONTEXT AND PHILOSOPHY
The term "poststructuralism" refers to a critical perspective that emerged during the seventies which has dethroned structuralism as the dominant trend in language and textual theory. In order to understand poststructuralism, we need to examine it in relation to



Cited: DERRIDA, Jacques, Writing and Difference, trans. Alan Bass, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978. DERRIDA, Jacques, Of Grammatology, trans. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976. DERRIDA, Jacques, Plato 's Pharmacy, in Dissemination, trans. Barbara Johnson, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981, p. 61-84. HOTTOIS, Gilbert, De la Renaissance à la Postmodernité. Une histoire de la philosophie moderne et contemporaine, Paris and Brussels: De Boeck and Larcier, 1998. JOYCE, James, Finnegans Wake, New York: Viking Press, 1976 [1939]. POITRAS, Anique, La Deuxième vie, Montreal: Québec Amérique Jeunesse, "Titan", 1994. NEWS AND ACTUALITY 09/12/2013 - CALL FOR PAPERS: (deadline: February, 1st, 2014): First International Association for Cognitive Semiotics (IACS) Conference (IACS-2014), September 25-27, Lund University (Sweden) 14/04/2013 - CALL FOR PAPERS: 38th Annual Meeting ("Why Semiotics"), Semiotic Society of America (SSA), October 24th-27th 2013, Dayton, Ohio (USA) 15/02/2013 - Publication of Revue SIGNATA 3 (2012)

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