"Background and Concepts of Deconstructivism, New Historical" PDF

“BACKGROUND AND
CONCEPTS OF
DECONSTRUCTIVISM,
NEW HISTORICAL”

INTRODUCTION
The term “deconstruction‟ is related to the French verb

“deconstuire,‟ which in English connotes “to undo the improvement
of or the development of, to take to pieces.” In philosophy, however,
the word “deconstruction‟ was coined by the French philosopher
Jacques Derrida (1930-2004) in the late 1960s as a response to the
idea of “destructive” analysis rendered by the German word
‘destruktion’ of Martin Heidegger (1889–1976), which literally means
„destruction‟ or “de-building.‟ Thus, the word “deconstruction” is
genealogically linked to Heidegger.
INTRODUCTION
Instead of applying Heidegger‟s term of destruktion

(destruction) to textual readings, Derrida opted for
the term „deconstruction‟. Since then, the word
„deconstruction‟ has entered the philosophical,
literary, and political vocabulary, though it existed
before, at least in grammatical and architectural
jargon.
DISCUSSION
·French Theorist, philosopher, and

writer
·His areas of study include

philosophy, literary criticism and
literary theory
·Studied Philosophy at a very

prestigious school in Paris Jacques
Derrida
DISCUSSION
·He received a great deal of

popularity for his theories and
writing style, and equally as
much criticism for them
·In 1967, he introduced the theory

of Deconstruction
Jacques
Derrida
ORIGINS OF
DECONSTRUCTION
·Derrida’s main influencefor the development of this

theory was from the theorist, Martin Heidegger

·In his work called Being and Time, Heidegger talks

about “destructuring” of previous ontological
concepts such as time, history, matter, etc. in order
to better understand them.

ORIGINS OF
DECONSTRUCTION
·Derrida’s theory is similar to

Heidegger’s in that he, too wanted to
rethink many of the terms commonly used
in philosophical considerations, but
Derrida took further steps in creating a
workable theory.
Derrida’s Influences
Other influences included such
famous thinkers as Edmund Husserl,
Sigmund Freud, Fredrick Nietzsche,
Andre Leroi-Gourhan, Claude Levi
Strauss andFerdinand De Saussure.

·Defining this term can be especially difficult

and confusing.
·Derrida once said that it is a necessary
confusion since it is criticizing the very
language needed to explain it. Here is a very
simplified explanation of the reasoning behind
this theory that I found helpful.
·“Deconstruction seems to center around the idea that
language and meaning are often inadequate in trying to
convey the message or idea a communicator is trying to
express. Since the confusion stems from the language and
not the object then one should break down or deconstruct
the language to see if we can better understand where the
confusion stems.”

Binary Opposition
·Words have binary opposites like good/evil, mind/body,

speech/writing. Usually one side is valued higher than the
other. This creates difficulties that deconstruction aims
to correct.
Binary Opposition
·By deconstructing these binary

oppositions, we are able to uncover the
foundation.
Binary Opposition
·Derrida argued that philosophical traditions were
largely “marginalized,” and with the application of
deconstruction, it is possible to express what has
been repressed in these traditions.
Phases of Deconstruction
1st Phase
·Reverse the hierarchies so that the repressed is
dominate.
·Ex: Writing is more valued than speech, so now speech
is valued over writing
·Argue to support the reversal with terms like “in” or
“within”
·Speech is in writing. Writing is within speech.
3
Phases of Deconstruction
2nd Phase
The previously devalued term
now has an opportunity to have a
hierarchy of its own
3
HOW IS IT USED IN LITERARY
ANALYSIS?
·Used as a tool in
narrative analysis
ANALYSIS?
·Starts with a very careful
reading that looks for
inconsistency and
contradictions in the text


ANALYSIS?
·The results often
uncovering of a deeply
complex foundation that
is difficult to make sense
of
ANALYSIS?
·This is one of the many
criticism of Deconstruction,
that it nihilistic and
unproductive because it
leads to uncertainty.
The point of the deconstructive
analysis is to restructure, or
“displace,” the opposition, not
simply to reverse it. For Derrida, the
most telling and pervasive
opposition is the one that treats
Conclusion writing as secondary to or derivative
of speech. Because deconstruction
examines the internal logic of any
given text or discourse it has helped
many authors to analyze the
contradictions inherent in all
schools of thought; and, as such, it
has proved revolutionary in political
analysis, particularly ideology
critiques

"Background and Concepts of Deconstructivism, New Historical" PDF

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

"Background and Concepts of Deconstructivism, New Historical" PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

“BACKGROUND AND

The term “deconstruction‟ is related to the French verb

Instead of applying Heidegger‟s term of destruktion

·French Theorist, philosopher, and

·His areas of study include

·Studied Philosophy at a very

·He received a great deal of

·In 1967, he introduced the theory

·Derrida’s main influencefor the development of this

·In his work called Being and Time, Heidegger talks

·Derrida’s theory is similar to

·Defining this term can be especially difficult

·Words have binary opposites like good/evil, mind/body,

·By deconstructing these binary

HOW IS IT USED IN LITERARY

You might also like