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In the essay "Différance" Derrida indicates that ''différance'' gestures at a number of heterogeneous features which govern the production of [[text]]ual [[meaning]]. The first (relating to deferral) is the notion that [[words]] and signs can never fully summon forth what they mean, but can only be defined through appeal to additional words, from which they differ. Thus, meaning is forever "deferred" or postponed through an endless chain of signifiers. The second (relating to difference, sometimes referred to as ''espacement'' or "spacing") concerns the force which differentiates elements from one another and, in so doing, engenders binary oppositions and [[hierarchy|hierarchies]] which underpin [[meaning]] itself.

In the essay "Différance" Derrida indicates that ''différance'' gestures at a number of heterogeneous features which govern the production of [[text]]ual [[meaning]]. The first (relating to deferral) is the notion that [[words]] and signs can never fully summon forth what they mean, but can only be defined through appeal to additional words, from which they differ. Thus, meaning is forever "deferred" or postponed through an endless chain of signifiers. The second (relating to difference, sometimes referred to as ''espacement'' or "spacing") concerns the force which differentiates elements from one another and, in so doing, engenders binary oppositions and [[hierarchy|hierarchies]] which underpin [[meaning]] itself.

 

==Neither a word nor a concept==

==Neither a word nor a concept==

According to Derrida, Différance itself, is "neither a word, nor a concept," nor a thing.  Words and [[concepts]]/theories are themselves ''different'' from other words or concepts and this difference gives their meaning.  Despite the [[transcendentalism|transcendental]] overtones of this statement as indicating a condition of possibility of meaning, according to Derrida différance is not transcendental.  It is, as Derrida has remarked in his book ''Glas'', a "quasi-transcendental" concept, insofar as the difference between words both en[[gender]] meaning and forever defer meaning, différance serves as both the condition of possibility and the impossibility of meaning.

According to Derrida, Différance itself, is "neither a word, nor a concept," nor a thing.  Words and [[concepts]]/theories are themselves ''different'' from other words or concepts and this difference gives their meaning.  Despite the [[transcendentalism|transcendental]] overtones of this statement as indicating a condition of possibility of meaning, according to Derrida différance is not transcendental.  It is, as Derrida has remarked in his book ''Glas'', a "quasi-transcendental" concept, insofar as the difference between words both en[[gender]] meaning and forever defer meaning, différance serves as both the condition of possibility and the impossibility of meaning.

The 'a' of différance is a deliberate "misspelling", though it [[sound]]s the same when enunciated.  This highlights the [[fact]] that its written form is not heard completely, and serves to further subvert the traditional privileging of speech over writing, as well as the distinction between the sensible and the intelligible.  The difference articulated by the ''a'' in différance is not apparent to the senses via sound, "but neither cannot it belong to intelligibility, to the [[ideal]]ity which is not fortuitously associated with the objectivity of ''thorein'' or understanding." This is because the language of understanding is already caught up in sensible [[metaphor]]s ("[[theory]]," for instance, in Greek, means "to [[vision|see]]").

The 'a' of différance is a deliberate "misspelling", though it [[sound]]s the same when enunciated.  This highlights the [[fact]] that its written form is not heard completely, and serves to further subvert the traditional privileging of speech over writing, as well as the distinction between the sensible and the intelligible.  The difference articulated by the ''a'' in différance is not apparent to the senses via sound, "but neither cannot it belong to intelligibility, to the [[ideal]]ity which is not fortuitously associated with the objectivity of ''thorein'' or understanding." This is because the language of understanding is already caught up in sensible [[metaphor]]s ("[[theory]]," for instance, in Greek, means "to [[vision|see]]").

Derrida introduced this word in the course of an argument against the phenomenology of [[Edmund Husserl|Husserl]], who sought a rigorous [[analysis]] of the role of [[memory]] and [[perception]] in our understanding of sequential items such as [[music]] or [[language]].  Derrida's ''différance'' argued that because the perceiver's mental state was constantly in a state of flux, and differed from one re-[[reader|reading]] to the next, a general theory describing this phenomenon was unachievable.

Derrida introduced this word in the course of an argument against the phenomenology of [[Edmund Husserl|Husserl]], who sought a rigorous [[analysis]] of the role of [[memory]] and [[perception]] in our understanding of sequential items such as [[music]] or [[language]].  Derrida's ''différance'' argued that because the perceiver's mental state was constantly in a state of flux, and differed from one re-[[readers|reading]] to the next, a general theory describing this phenomenon was unachievable.

== The web of language ==

== The web of language ==

* [[Critical theory]]

* [[Critical theory]]

* [[Semiotics]]

* [[Semiotics]]

* [http://www.hydra.umn.edu/derrida/diff.html Full text of Différance chapter]

* [https://www.hydra.umn.edu/derrida/diff.html Full text of Différance chapter]

* [http://www.stanford.edu/class/history34q/readings/Derrida/Differance.html Full text of Différance chapter (mirror)]

* [https://www.stanford.edu/class/history34q/readings/Derrida/Differance.html Full text of Différance chapter (mirror)]

[[Category: Philosophy]]

[[Category: Philosophy]]

[[Category: Languages and Literature]]

[[Category: Languages and Literature]]