Derrida and Deconstruction: Flipped Learning

 

Derrida and Deconstruction: Flipped Learning

1.1. Why is it difficult to define Deconstruction?

First Derrida refuses to define Deconstruction because he thinks that it is not once and for all finally defined.

1.2. Is Deconstruction a negative term?

The term "deconstruction" is not  negative or positive and It is not something breaking down but it is inquiring about the foundation.

1.3. How does Deconstruction happen on its own?

Deconstruction happens on its own when people start questioning and challenging the meanings of texts.

2.1. The influence of Heidegger on Derrida

Derrida was influenced by Martin Heidegger' concept of "deconstruction". Heidegger and his philosophy deals with some important themes which Derrida continues, which is the questioning of deconstruction. Here western philosophy refuses the mode of existence and the mode of their being , and Heidegger wants to destroy this western philosophy, and that's how he wants to transform the way western people think. Like Heidegger Derrida wants to rethink.

2.2 Derridean rethinking of the foundations of Western philosophy

Because he wanted to deconstruct the traditional binary oppositions, and challenging the idea of fixed meanings.

3.1. Ferdinand de Saussureian concept of language (that meaning is arbitrary, relational, constitutive)

Ferdinand de Saussure's concept of language posits that meaning in language is arbitrary, meaning of words do not inherently have a direct connection to the objects they represent.

3.2. How does Derrida deconstruct the idea of arbitrariness?

Derrida deconstructs the idea of arbitrariness by questioning the traditional understanding of language as purely arbitrary, he said that any word can be used to talk about anything and meaning of any word is nothing but another word. He further emphasized that how meaning is dependent on the differences between words, and how these differences are not stable but constantly shifting.

3.3. Concept of metaphysics of presence

The concept of the "metaphysics of presence" is a term used by Jacques Derrida to critique the traditional Western philosophical view that meaning and truth are based on the direct presence of things or ideas. We are connected being with its present and in language we use present tense for any object to signify that it exists like "the table is".

4.1. Derridean concept of DifferEnce

The Derridean concept of DifferAnce refers to the idea that meaning is not fixed or stable but meaning is something that is constituted through the differences between signs and words. Words do not have only one meaning but they have lots of meaning like when we opened a dictionary and wanted to find the meaning of interest. We get lots of meaning from that particular word, and the ultimate meaning is always postponed.

4.2. Infinite play of meaning

Infinite play of meaning refers to the continual interplay of meanings within language, where meaning is never fixed or final but is constantly shifting and evolving through various contexts and interpretations.

4.3. DIfferAnce = to differ + to defer

This highlights the dual meaning of both "difference" and "deferral."

5.1. Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences

In this influential work, Derrida discusses the important thing which is interplay between structure and meaning in the human sciences.

5.2. Explain: "Language bears within itself the necessity of its own critique."

The statement "Language bears within itself the necessity of its own critique" suggests that language contains inherent limitations, ambiguities, and biases that require critical examination.

6.1. The Yale School: the hub of the practitioners of Deconstruction in the literary theories

The Yale School playing a significant role in popularizing and advancing the deconstructive approach to literature and language analysis. Because of Yale Deconstruction becoming a school of literary criticism.

6.2. The characteristics of the Yale School of Deconstruction

The Yale School of Deconstruction emphasized the instability of language,  and the idea that texts have multiple interpretations, and also challenged traditional views of fixed meanings in literature.

7.1. How other schools like New Historicism, Cultural Materialism, Feminism, Marxism and Postcolonial theorists used Deconstruction?

Other schools like New Historicism, Cultural Materialism, Feminism, Marxism, and Postcolonial theorists have utilized and use Deconstruction as a critical tool, because they wanted to examine many things like social constructs, and historical contexts within literature.