Deconstruction

Grammatology

The concept of deconstruction was presented by J. Derrida in his program work “On Gramatology”, published in 1967.

Derrida criticizes traditional European philosophy for its logo - centrism - the structuring of thought around a central element (in this case, a word or sound) and the displacement from the sphere of the knowable of elements that turn out to be non-thought, non-conceivable. Logocentrism assumes the self-sufficiency of any semantic units, while Derrida claims that symbols always refer to other symbols, existing only in a system of connections with each other, and denies their stability and universality ^[1] .

Logocentrism determines the existence of binary oppositions (formal-logical, mythological, dialectical), which form the basis of European thinking and give it hierarchy, because one of them certainly prevails (good and evil, rationality and emotions, etc.). The goal of deconstruction is to analyze such opposition and equalize both components in rights. At the next stage, the problem is considered at a level where the opposition itself becomes important, but the possibility or impossibility of its existence ^[2] . One of the errors of logo-centrism as a metaphysics of presence is the positioning of the present over the past. This thesis is largely based on the work of M. Heidegger " Being and Time ", which examines the relationship between the phenomenon of "presence", history and historiography .

Deconstruction is a mechanical analysis into components and an analysis of their origin in order to understand how the whole works. In the case of a text, the identification of contradictions between logic and rhetoric , between the meaning contained in the text, and the fact that it (the text) forces the mediator language to mean. This is a kind of play of the text against meaning and elucidation of the degree of independence of the language in relation to semantic content ^[1] .

In his work, Derrida uses a number of the same terms he introduced: presence (presence), logo-centrism , metaphysics, trace, difference, writing, completion ^[3] .

Derrida also applies the concept of deconstruction to his own text ^[1] .

For Derrid, the main thing is not the final picture, but the process of work: it is important for him that the viscous thickness of the intermediary language, in which a person flounders, does not harden, and he tries to break it with cracks, dismember and dissect. From this is the deliberate paradoxical nature of his terminology: “trace” (for what is unknown), “writing” to the language (because through the thickness of intermediaries the sounding speech does not reach, and the written becomes more important); from him is a demonstrative non-standard style, which is anxiously striving to pronounce with his tongue something that negates the language.

- Avtonomova N. S. Derrida and grammar

Steps

• The distinction is the finding of binary opposition from the main concept and its antipode. For example, the distinction between the transcendental and the empirical in Kant 's Critique of Pure Reason .
• Inversion is a coup, the replacement of the main concept by the antipode .

Other works of Derrida

In addition to On Gramatology, Derrida published several works directly related to it, expanding or illustrating the effect of the concept of deconstruction. Among them are “Letter and Difference”, “ Voice and Phenomenon ”, “Fields of Philosophy”.

Deconstruction Reception

The theory of deconstruction is extremely important in the context of postmodernism , in which the very concept of the text changes ^[4] , and the language from the instrument turns into an independent actor ^[5] . The deconstructivist approach involves shifting the focus from the explicit content of the text to the intermediary language, identifying unlikely details, marginalized people who reveal, “give out” the text ^[4] .

In a broader sense, deconstruction is associated with a critical rethinking of literary, philosophical, historical and other canons ^[4] .

In Europe, deconstruction was a reaction to structuralism and formed the basis of many post-structuralist approaches ^[6] .

In the 1970s, deconstruction was used primarily in philosophy and literary criticism.

In the 1980s, deconstruction found application in many radical approaches in various fields of the humanities and social sciences ^[7] : jurisprudence ^{[8] [9]} , anthropology , historiography ^[10] , psychoanalysis , architecture, theology, feminism, queer studies , political theory and cinema theory ^[7] .

The theory of deconstruction formed the basis of schools of left-wing deconstructivism, hermeneutic deconstructivism, and feminist criticism ^[11] .

Deconstruction in Literary Criticism and Historiography

In the late 1960s and early 1980s, the concept of deconstruction was actively developed in the United States by representatives of the group, later known as the Yale School. Among its representatives are Paul de Man , John Hillis Miller, Jeffrey Hartman and others. With regard to literary criticism, deconstruction meant the subjectivity of the perception of a literary text and the absolute independence of interpretation from the text and vice versa ^[11] . The idea of ​​the independence of the text in relation to the author, his biography and intentions is developed by R. Bart in the 1967 essay "The Death of the Author " ^[12] .

The deconstructivist approach radically changed historiography, introducing an element of postmodernism into it. Alan Manslow in his work “Deconstructing History” (1997) considers new problems and issues facing postmodern historiography ^[10] .

Deconstruction in Legal Research

Theorists of critical legal research ( PM Unger , R.V. Gordon, M.J. Gorwitz, D. Kenny, and others) consider the hierarchy existing in society as the main source of legal logic and form. They argue that the law is inseparable from politics and cannot be neutral. To demonstrate the vagueness of existing legal doctrines and laws, these scholars often use methods such as linguistic structuralism or philosophical deconstruction. This allows you to clarify and narrow down the broad meaning of categories and terms in legal texts and speech ^[9] .

Deconstruction in Architecture

Derrida's concept gave rise to a new trend in architecture, called deconstructivism . It is characterized by a deviation from classical forms, visual complexity and asymmetry , broken and deliberately destructive forms, as well as an aggressive invasion of the city’s appearance ^[13] . Architectural deconstructivism is associated with the exhibition Deconstructivist architecture ^[14] in MOMA (New York) in 1988 ^[15] , which, in turn, was focused on rethinking modernism, in particular, the ideas of Russian constructivism.

Deconstruction in Fashion

As a phenomenon in fashion, deconstructivism was formed in the 1980s - 1990s ^[16] . It took shape and developed as part of a general intellectual movement related to the philosophy of deconstructivism and the works of Jacques Derrida . The development of fashion deconstruction was also influenced by the architectural tradition ^[17] . The formal signs of deconstructivism in a suit can be considered decaying or unfinished forms ^[18] , the open structure of clothes and the asymmetric structure of the suit ^[19] . Deconstructivism involved the identification of cut elements in the appearance of the dress. He became one of the trends that recorded the possibility of non-standard solutions in a suit. The main representatives of deconstructivism in fashion are Martin Margelu, Yoji Yamamoto, Rei Kawakubo, Karl Lagerfeld, Anne Demelmeister and Dries van Noten ^[20] .

In relation to popular culture, the term "deconstruction" has become fixed in the meaning of revisionism - a rethinking of traditional or established plots and paths . This is a vivid manifestation of the culture of postmodernism , which operates with ready-made forms and artistic styles, appeals to eternal stories and themes - and through the prism of irony and self-irony shows their unnaturalness and inapplicability to modern reality ^[5] .

Deconstruction is understood as the analysis of the path with the aim of better understanding its meaning. Often this means identifying the pathway of contradictions inevitable in the archetypal structure and proving its failure in another situation or in real life. The simplest and most common way to apply deconstruction to paths in works of mass culture is to pose the question “What consequences would this path have in reality? What circumstances would have caused its appearance? ”The deconstruction of the genre is singled out separately, when a whole set of paths, plot moves and characters characteristic of a particular genre are subjected to critical and / or ironic assessment. Often (but not necessarily) the deconstruction of the original work is gloomy and even cynical. Parody can be considered as a form of deconstruction ^[21] .

• Destruction in art
• Jacques Derrida
• Hypermanism
• Martin Heidegger
• Jean-Francois Lyotard

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• Derrida J. "Letter to a Japanese Friend," in Derrida and Différance, ed. David Wood and Robert Bernasconi (Warwick: Parousia Press, 1985).
• Munslow A. Deconstructing History, published 1997, 2nd. Edn. Routledge , 2006
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