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Showing posts with the label arche-trace

The Writing on the Wall: A Critical Look at Derrida’s Reading of Saussure

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                       mene, mene, tekel, parsin Introduction Ferdinand de Saussure’s Course in General Linguistics establishes key distinctions and frameworks that continue to influence the field. By focusing on the linguistic structure ( la langue ) and differentiating it from the external elements of language, Saussure sought to provide a clear object of study for linguistics, one that would encompass the diverse and multifaceted nature of language while remaining coherent and structured. His decision to exclude “writing” from his analysis, viewing it as an external element, has been a significant point of contention, particularly for Jacques Derrida in his Of Grammatology . Derrida's critique questions whether Saussure’s methodology inadvertently reinforced a speech-writing hierarchy, deeply rooted in Western thought, or if Derrida himself misinterpreted or oversimplified Saussure’s theoretical framework. This articl...

Interrogating Origins: Kant's Conditions of Possibility and Derrida's Arche-Trace

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  Introduction In Derrida's "Of Grammatology," the concept of arche-trace challenges traditional notions of origin and presence in philosophical discourse. Ann Smock, in her analysis of Derrida's text in the book Reading Derrida's Of Grammatology, underscores the provocative nature of this concept encapsulated in the remark "this concept destroys its name" (OG 61; DG 90). Derrida posits that the arche-trace must simultaneously acknowledge its necessity and the inherent erasure implied by its existence: ‘The concept of the arche-trace must do justice both to this necessity and to this erasure’ (OG 61). This enigmatic statement has sparked numerous interpretations and scholarly debates, inviting a deeper exploration into its implications. In this article, we explore this section of the book Reading Derrida's Of Grammatology where the elusive concept of arche-trace is discussed and try to shed light on its implicit meaning by invoking Kant's phi...