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Jacques Derrida wrote that history and language have always been traditionally full of privileged dualities of terms, such as order/chaos, high/low, and even good/bad.  Among these has been the pairing of speaking/writing, which emphasized a historically logocentric (or speech-focused) approach to literature.  In support of this, he indicates the vocal patterning which evidences itself amongst the written word, found within such literary devices as dialogue, which functions as an awkward attempt to mimic vocal exchanges via the written word, and accordingly is intrinsically less natural.
 
Jacques Derrida wrote that history and language have always been traditionally full of privileged dualities of terms, such as order/chaos, high/low, and even good/bad.  Among these has been the pairing of speaking/writing, which emphasized a historically logocentric (or speech-focused) approach to literature.  In support of this, he indicates the vocal patterning which evidences itself amongst the written word, found within such literary devices as dialogue, which functions as an awkward attempt to mimic vocal exchanges via the written word, and accordingly is intrinsically less natural.
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Derrida was not passing judgment on these concepts; he was notorious for not advocating any "solutions" or even any beliefs, often refusing to define deconstruction when asked.  In his view, any definition would fall victim to the notion of what he termed "différance" (a pun on the French for "difference"), wherein no symbol can be described without resorting to further symbols to communicate, often further referencing more misleading binaries and leading into what he described as an endless "deferment" of meaning.  Thus, the différance of a word is the conjunction of conflict between the signifier and signified; Derrida termed the substantive quality of this conflict as "trace," and deemed that definitions and accordingly understandings of the relationships between signifier and the signified had to undergo a process known as supplementation in order to be fully complete.
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Derrida was not passing judgement on these concepts; he was notorious for not advocating any "solutions" or even any beliefs, often refusing to define deconstruction when asked.  In his view, any definition would fall victim to the notion of what he termed "différance" (a pun on the French for "difference"), wherein no symbol can be described without resorting to further symbols to communicate, often further referencing more misleading binaries and leading into what he described as an endless "deferment" of meaning.  Thus, the différance of a word is the conjunction of conflict between the signifier and signified; Derrida termed the substantive quality of this conflict as "trace," and deemed that definitions and accordingly understandings of the relationships between signifier and the signified had to undergo a process known as supplementation in order to be fully complete.
    
The interplay that occurs during the process of endless deferment in conventional [[linguistics]], while trying to track down the inner meaning of a given term, is referred to by deconstructionists as the hymen, in reference to the anatomical structure.  The reference is an allusion to the fact that the structure is both inside and outside of the body at the same time, an apparent paradox and a contradiction of the Law of Identity proposed classically by [[Aristotle]] and held as an essential tenet of [[logical positivism]] within linguistics.  This paradox has been most notably explored by author and philosopher Robert Pirsig in his works ''Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance'' and ''Lila''.
 
The interplay that occurs during the process of endless deferment in conventional [[linguistics]], while trying to track down the inner meaning of a given term, is referred to by deconstructionists as the hymen, in reference to the anatomical structure.  The reference is an allusion to the fact that the structure is both inside and outside of the body at the same time, an apparent paradox and a contradiction of the Law of Identity proposed classically by [[Aristotle]] and held as an essential tenet of [[logical positivism]] within linguistics.  This paradox has been most notably explored by author and philosopher Robert Pirsig in his works ''Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance'' and ''Lila''.
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