Deconstruction解构主义

<<西方文学批评入门>>教案99 DeconstructionIntroduction1.The terms poststructuralism and deconstruction are often used interchangeably.Poststructualism emerged in the late 1960s as a new strategy for textual analysis and a new approach eto interpretating literature. Today it refers to a variety of theories that have developed after structuralism.2.Deconstruction first developed in the United States in 1966 when Derridaquestioned and disputed in his paper “Structure, Sign ,and Play” the metaphysical assumptions held to be true by Western philosophy since the time of Plato.3.#4.Derrida and deconstruction wish to dispute and deconstruct the assertion thattruth or a core of metaphysical ideals can be definitely believed, articulated and supported. They challenge beliefs long held by Western culture.5.Deconstruction utilizes previously formulated theories from other schools ofcriticism, especially structuralism. From structuralism Derrida borrows the basis of and starting point for his deconstructive strategy. To understand his deconstructive approach to literary analysis, we must first gain a working knowledge of the historical and philosophical roots of structuralism.6.To understand and utilize deconstruction’s approach to interpreting a text, wemust also investigate the proposed radical changes Derrida makes in Western philosophy and metaphysics and master some new terminology of deconstruction.Historical Development1.Saussure: structureal linguistics1)—2)Language is a system of rules which govern every aspect of the language.Every speaker of a language learns these rules and knows when they are broken.3)The rules that comprise a language is called langue, and its speakers’individual speech utterances are called parole. The task of linguistics is to infer a language’s langue from the analysis of many instances of parole.4)All languages are composed of basic units or emes. Within each eme,distinctions or meaning depend on meaning in language depends on differences within each eme. Language is primarily determined by its own internal rules, such as phonology, grammar and syntax. These rules are highly systematized and structured.5)The linguistic sign is composed of two parts: the signifier and the signified.The relationship between the signitier and the signified is arbitrary and conventional. So the lingusistic sign is defined by differences that distinguish it from other signs. So meaning in language is determined by the differences among the language signs.2.Derrida: deconstructive discourse1)~2)Derrida borrows from Saussure the concept that meaning in language isdetermined by the differences among the language signs, and uses it as a key building block in the formulation of deconstruction. He agrees with Saussure that language is a system based on differences and that we know the meaning of signifiers through their relationships and the differences among themselves.3)Derrida applies this reasoning to the signified. He suggests that signieds (orconcepts) con also be known only through their relationships and differences among themselves.4)Derrida declares that the relationship between the signifier and the signifiedis arbitrary and convention, and so the signified can not orient or make permanent the meaning of the signifier, Very often signifieds function as signifiers.5)Since language is a system of difference, and a signifier takes on its signifiedfrom its difference from other signifiers, a language sign contains within itself all the traces of the other signs, and its meaning results from the freeplay of these traces and is therefore impossible to pin down.With the dissolution of the binary opposition, the underlying universal meaning of structuralism disappears.[Derrida coins a new word and concept: differance, which is derived from the French word differer.(P79, Understanding what he means by differance is an important key to understanding deconstruction.Assumptions1.Western metaphysics is founded on an error: the searching for atranscendental signified(超验所指),which is an external point of reference upon which we may build a concept or philosophy. Once found, it would provide ultimate meaning.2.The transcendental signified would have to be understood without comparingit to other signifieds or signifiers. Its meaning would originate directly with itself.These transcendental signifieds would provide the “center”of meaning, allowing people who believe in them to structure their ideas of reality around these “centers” of truth.3.]4.Western metaphysics has invented a variety of terms that function as centers.They are self-sufficient and self-originating, and serve as transcendental signifieds. This tendency is logocentrism.5.Since people can not free themselves from their logocentric habit of thinking,by questioning an old center, we may automatically establish a new establishing a new center means that another center is decentered.6.Western metaphysics is based on a system of binary oppositions orconceptual oppositions. For each center, there exists an opposing center .In each of these opposing centers, one concept is superior and defines itself byits opposing concept which is inferior. Derrida objects to the creating of these hierarchal binaries as the basis for Western metaphysics.7.Derrida wishes to dismantle the fragile basis for Western metaphysics. Hedeclares that in a binary opposition, one element is always superior, or privileged while the other becomes inferior, or unprivileged. Western thought has long privileged speech over writing. Derrida calls this phonocentrism. He believes that people value speech over writing because speech implies presence, and writing signifies absence. He argues that spoken language is a kind of writing which he calls arche-writing, and spoken language and writing share common characteristics. In his arche-writing, writing becomes privileged and speech becomes unprivileged because speech is a kind of writing. He then challenges Western philosophy’s concept that human consciousness gives birth to language. He argues that without language, there can be no consciousness, for consciousness presupposes language.8.The relationship between elements in binary opposition is always unstable.Derrida uses the term supplement to refer to the unstable relationship between elements in a binary opposition, and suggests that supplementation operates in all binary operations. By inverting the privileged and unprivileged elements, Derrida begins to develop his reading strategy of deconstruction.9.、10.In deconstructing the binary opposition in the Western metaphysical tradition,Derrida does not oppose one with the other, because monism anticipates dualism.Derrida’s deconstruction is a form of pluralism to enable the freeplay of all the elements in the structure. These elements are complimentary rather than mutually exclusive.Methodology1 . Discover the binary operations that govern a text;2. Comment on the values, concepts and ideas behind these binary operations;3. Reverse these binary operations;4. Dismantle previously held worldviews;5. Accept the possibility of various levels of a text based on the new binaryinversions;the meaning of the text to be undecidable.。