Of Grammatology

Last updated
Of Grammatology
Of Grammatology, French edition.jpg
Cover of the first edition
Author Jacques Derrida
Original titleDe la grammatologie
Translator Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
LanguageFrench
Subject
Publisher Les Éditions de Minuit
Publication date
1967
Publication placeFrance
Published in English
1976
Media typePrint
Pages360 (revised English translation)
ISBN 0-8018-5830-5

Of Grammatology (French: De la grammatologie) is a 1967 book by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida. The book, originating the idea of deconstruction, proposes that throughout continental philosophy, especially as philosophers engaged with linguistic and semiotic ideas, writing has been erroneously considered as derivative from speech, making it a "fall" from the real "full presence" of speech and the independent act of writing.

Contents

Background

The work was initially unsuccessfully submitted by Derrida as a Doctorat de spécialité thesis (directed by Maurice de Gandillac) under the full title De la grammatologie : Essai sur la permanence de concepts platonicien, aristotélicien et scolastique de signe écrit [1] (Of Grammatology: Essay on the Permanence of Platonic, Aristotelian and Scholastic Concepts of the Written Sign).

Summary

In Of Grammatology, Derrida discusses writers such as Claude Lévi-Strauss, Ferdinand de Saussure, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Étienne Condillac, Louis Hjelmslev, Emile Benveniste, Martin Heidegger, Edmund Husserl, Roman Jakobson, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, André Leroi-Gourhan, and William Warburton. In the course of the work he deconstructs the philosophies of language and the act of writing given by these authors, identifying what he calls phonocentrism, and showing the myriad aporias and ellipses to which this leads them. Derrida avoids describing what he is theorizing as a critique of the work of these thinkers, but he nevertheless calls for a new science of "grammatology" that would explore the questions that he raises about how to theorize the act of writing. [2]

Of Grammatology introduced many of the concepts which Derrida would employ in later work, especially in relation to linguistics and writing. [3]

Saussure and structuralism

The book begins with a reading of Saussure's linguistic structuralism as presented in the Course in General Linguistics , and in particular signs, which for Saussure have the two separate components of sound and meaning. These components are also called signifier (signifiant) and signified (signifié). [4]

Derrida quotes Saussure: "Language and writing are two distinct systems of signs; the second exists for the sole purpose of representing the first." [5] Highlighting the imbalanced dynamic between speech and writing that Saussure uses, Derrida instead offers the idea that written symbols are in fact legitimate signifiers on their own, and should not be considered as secondary, or derivative, relative to oral speech. [6]

Reading of Rousseau

Much of the second half of Of Grammatology consists of a sustained reading of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, especially his Essay on the Origin of Languages . Derrida analyzes Rousseau in terms of what he calls a "logic of supplementarity," [7] according to which "the supplement is exterior, outside of the positivity to which it is super-added, alien to that which, in order to be replaced by it, must be other than it." [8] Derrida shows how Rousseau consistently appeals to the idea that a supplement comes from the outside to contaminate a supposedly pure origin (of language, in this case). This tendency manifests in many different binaries that Rousseau sets up throughout the Essay: writing supplements speech, articulation supplements accent, need supplements passion, north supplements south, etc. [9] Derrida calls these binaries a "system of oppositions that controls the entire Essay." [10] He then argues that Rousseau, without expressly declaring it, nevertheless describes how a logic of supplementarity is always already at work in the origin that it is supposed to corrupt: "This relationship of mutual and incessant supplementarity or substitution is the order of language. It is the origin of language, as it is described without being declared, in the Essay on the Origin of Languages." [11]

Publication history

Of Grammatology was first published by Les Éditions de Minuit in 1967. The English translation by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak was first published in 1976. A revised edition of the translation was published in 1997. A further revised edition was published in January 2016. [12]

Reception

Of Grammatology is one of three books which Derrida published in 1967, and which served to establish his reputation. The other two were La voix et le phénomène, translated as Speech and Phenomena , and L'écriture et la différence, translated as Writing and Difference . It has been called a foundational text for deconstructive criticism. [13]

The philosopher Iain Hamilton Grant has compared Of Grammatology to the philosopher Gilles Deleuze and the psychoanalyst Félix Guattari's Anti-Oedipus (1972), the philosopher Luce Irigaray's Speculum of the Other Woman (1974), the philosopher Jean-François Lyotard's Libidinal Economy (1974), and the sociologist Jean Baudrillard's Symbolic Exchange and Death (1976), noting that like them it forms part of post-structuralism, a response to the demise of structuralism as a dominant intellectual discourse. [14]

Editions

See also

Related Research Articles

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to critical theory:

In philosophy, deconstruction is a loosely-defined set of approaches to understanding the relationship between text and meaning. The concept of deconstruction was introduced by the philosopher Jacques Derrida, who described it as a turn away from Platonism's ideas of "true" forms and essences which are valued above appearances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacques Derrida</span> French philosopher (1930–2004)

Jacques Derrida was a French philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in a number of his texts, and which was developed through close readings of the linguistics of Ferdinand de Saussure and Husserlian and Heideggerian phenomenology. He is one of the major figures associated with post-structuralism and postmodern philosophy although he distanced himself from post-structuralism and disowned the word "postmodernity".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak</span> Indian scholar, literary theorist, and feminist critic

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak is an Indian scholar, literary theorist, and feminist critic. She is a University Professor at Columbia University and a founding member of the establishment's Institute for Comparative Literature and Society.

Différance is a French term coined by Jacques Derrida. It is central to Derrida's concept of deconstruction, a critical outlook concerned with the relationship between text and meaning. Roughly speaking, the method of différance is a way to analyze how signs come to have meanings. It suggests that meaning is not inherent in a sign but arises from its relationships with other signs, a continual process of contrasting with what comes before and later. That is, a sign acquires meaning by being different from other signs. The meaning of a sign changes over time, as new signs keep appearing and old signs keep disappearing.

"Logocentrism" is a term coined by the German philosopher Ludwig Klages in the early 1900s. It refers to the tradition of Western science and philosophy that regards words and language as a fundamental expression of an external reality. It holds the logos as epistemologically superior and that there is an original, irreducible object which the logos represent. According to logocentrism, the logos is the ideal representation of the Platonic ideal.

The following is a bibliography of works by Jacques Derrida.

"Structure, Sign, and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences" was a lecture presented at Johns Hopkins University on 21 October 1966 by philosopher Jacques Derrida. The lecture was then published in 1967 as chapter ten of Writing and Difference.

<i>Glas</i> (book) 1974 book by Jacques Derrida

Glas is a 1974 book by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida. It combines a reading of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's philosophical works and of Jean Genet's autobiographical writing. "One of Derrida's more inscrutable books," its form and content invite a reflection on the nature of literary genre and of writing.

Phonocentrism is the belief that sounds and speech are inherently superior to, or more primary than, written language or sign language. Those who espouse phonocentric views maintain that spoken language is the primary and most fundamental method of communication whereas writing is merely a derived method of capturing speech. Many also believe that spoken language is inherently richer and more intuitive than written language.

In the philosophy of language, "Arche-writing" is a concept introduced by French philosopher Jacques Derrida which refers to an abstract kind of writing that precedes both speech and actual writing. In the West, phonetic writing was considered as a secondary imitation of speech, a poor copy of the immediate living act of speech. Arche-writing is, in a sense, language, in that it is already there before we use it, it already has a pregiven, yet malleable, structure/genesis, which is a semi-fixed set-up of different words and syntax. This fixedness is the writing to which Derrida refers; such a 'writing' can even be seen in cultures that do not employ writing, it could be seen in notches on a rope or barrel, fixed customs, or placements around the living areas.

<i>Positions</i> (book) 1972 book by Jacques Derrida

Positions is a 1972 book by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida.

In literary theory, textuality comprises all of the attributes that distinguish the communicative content under analysis as an object of study. It is associated with structuralism and post-structuralism.

Sous rature is a strategic philosophical device originally developed by Martin Heidegger. Though never used in its contemporary French terminology by Heidegger, it is usually translated as 'under erasure', and involves the crossing out of a word within a text, but allowing it to remain legible and in place. Used extensively by Jacques Derrida, it signifies that a word is "inadequate yet necessary"; that a particular signifier is not wholly suitable for the concept it represents, but must be used as the constraints of our language offer nothing better.

Trace is one of the most important concepts in Derridian deconstruction. In the 1960s, Jacques Derrida used this concept in two of his early books, namely Writing and Difference and Of Grammatology.

Graphemics or graphematics is the linguistic study of writing systems and their basic components, i.e. graphemes.

Essay on the Origin of Languages is an essay by Jean-Jacques Rousseau published posthumously in 1781. Rousseau had meant to publish the essay in a short volume which was also to include essays On Theatrical Imitation and The Levite of Ephraim. In the preface to this would-be volume, Rousseau wrote that the Essay was originally meant to be included in the Discourse on Inequality, but was omitted because it "was too long and out of place". The essay was mentioned in Rousseau's 1762 book, Emile, or On Education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Searle–Derrida debate</span> Intellectual controversy

The Searle–Derrida debate is a famous intellectual controversy opposing John Searle and Jacques Derrida, after Derrida responded to J. L. Austin's theory of the illocutionary act in his 1972 paper "Signature Event Context". In his 1977 essay Reiterating the Differences: A Reply to Derrida, Searle argued that Derrida's apparent rejection of Austin was unwarranted, but later refused to let this 1977 reply be printed along with Derrida's papers in the 1988 collection Limited Inc—in which a new text by Derrida ridiculed Searle's positions on the topic. In the 1990s, Searle clarified why he did not consider Derrida's approach to be legitimate philosophy.

References

  1. ↑ Alan D. Schrift (2006), Twentieth-Century French Philosophy: Key Themes And Thinkers, Blackwell Publishing, p. 120.
  2. ↑ Derrida 1997
  3. ↑ Derrida 1997
  4. ↑ Derrida 1997
  5. ↑ Derrida 1997
  6. ↑ Derrida 1997
  7. ↑ Bernasconi, Robert. "Supplement". In Colebrook, Claire (ed.). Jacques Derrida : key concepts. Abingdon, Oxon. ISBN   9781844655892. OCLC   898081003.
  8. ↑ Jacques, Derrida (1998). Of grammatology (Corrected ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp.  145. ISBN   0801858305. OCLC   39348029.
  9. ↑ Rousseau, Jean-Jacques (1986). Essay on the Origin of Languages. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. pp. 30–48. ISBN   978-0226730127.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  10. ↑ Jacques., Derrida (1998). Of grammatology (Corrected ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp.  202. ISBN   0801858305. OCLC   39348029.
  11. ↑ Jacques., Derrida (1998). Of grammatology (Corrected ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp.  235. ISBN   0801858305. OCLC   39348029.
  12. ↑ "Of Grammatology". jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu. Retrieved 2016-04-11.
  13. ↑ Rabinowitz, Nancy Sorkin (2008). Greek Tragedy. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub. ISBN   978-1-4051-2160-6. p. 5: "Jacques Derrida's Of Grammatology, a foundational text for deconstructive criticism, works closely with Plato".
  14. ↑ Jean-François Lyotard] and Iain Hamilton Grant (1993), Libidinal Economy, Indiana University Press, p. xvii.

Sources

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.