Of Grammatology

Aristotle was an ancient Greek philosopher and student of Plato. He expanded on the work of his predecessor, building new philosophies in areas such as ethics, politics, economics, linguistics, and the arts. Aristotle’s ideas form the foundation of contemporary science and logic. In his work with ethics, Aristotle asserted that virtue existed between the polar opposites of two vices and was the only way to achieve happiness in life. He saw politics as an extension of the private ethical life and argued that certain types of political communities could contribute to personal happiness. Aristotle also introduced the idea of metaphysics, which he viewed as the study of the divine.

In a similar fashion to his predecessor, Aristotle adhered to logocentric ideals that Derrida challenges in Of Grammatology. Aristotle asserted that the written word is a sign of a sign, meaning that a written word represents a spoken word rather than a thought or the signified. In this logocentric view, speech is privileged over writing. Derrida challenges this idea, suggesting that writing and speech should be examined as equal expressions. Derrida is critical of metaphysics and the limitations it places on understanding and ideas. He proposes that metaphysics rely too heavily on binaries and presence.

Claude Lévi-Strauss (1908-2009) was a French anthropologist and philosopher who contributed to the development of structuralism. Lévi-Strauss believed that patterns could be uncovered to reveal a larger narrative of human experience; these patterns, in turn, could be found in all aspects of human life. In his important 1955 work Tristes Tropiques, Lévi-Strauss calls writing a “strange invention.” He suggests that writing allowed humans to preserve knowledge and examines the written word through the lens of structuralism. He viewed the logical nature of language as one of binaries, or signs with opposing properties.

Derrida challenges binaries in his methodology of deconstructionism. He argues that structuralism does not go far enough into the examination of relationships and criticizes the tendency of structuralism to show preference to one side of a binary over another. Deconstruction rips at the fabric of binaries and reveals that their existence as opposites is entirely dependent on one another. Deconstructing those binaries leads to a greater understanding.

Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) was an Austrian-German philosopher and mathematician who created the field of phenomenology, a philosophical method that removes an emphasis on reality and withholds judgment to examine the lived experience. His approach redefined modern philosophy, which had previously championed reason above spirituality. Husserl proposed that a person’s experiences, whether those experiences were religious, mythical, linguistic, or external, were all important to the study of the human condition. The phrase “to the things themselves” came to define Husserl’s philosophy and the spirit of phenomenology.

In 1954, at the age of 24, Derrida visited the Husserl Archives in Belgium. The collection was founded in 1938 after Husserl’s death to secure his materials from the sweeping destruction of intellectual property by Nazi authorities. Derrida was struck by one of Husserl’s small works, a 30-page essay called “The Origin of Geometry.” Derrida’s study of this essay became the catalyst for his most important theories, including deconstruction and the metaphysics of presence.

Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) was a Swiss philosopher. Considered the founder of modern linguistics and semiotics, Saussure proposed that language had two distinct parts: the synchronic part, which exists within a particular time, and the diachronic part, which evolves over time. Saussure also laid the foundation for structuralism. His work Course in General Linguistics, published in 1916, three years after his death, was an influential book for scholars in multiple fields.

Derrida develops a post-structuralist argument by breaking down Saussure’s separation of speech and writing. Derrida challenges the idea that specific structures can explain human experience or language, and he breaks apart Saussure’s argument that there is a simple relationship between the signifier and signified. Instead, Derrida argues that language is nuanced and always lacks objectivity.

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900) was a German philosopher known for his cultural criticism and genealogical critiques. Nietzsche traced the origin of major concepts in human experience, such as morality and religion, and sought to understand how these concepts related to power and social structures.

Nietzsche was highly critical of some aspects of metaphysics, including the metaphysical concepts of causation and self. Derrida, too, criticized the limitations of metaphysics, which he believed inhibited understanding and ignored the role of negation. Derrida praises Nietzsche’s work in Of Grammatology, claiming that Nietzsche contributed to the liberation of the written word.

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) was a German philosopher and contributed to the movement of German idealism. Hegel’s philosophical interests were vast, and he wrote numerous works on phenomenology, science and logic, history, religion, and politics. Hegel used a method of philosophical argument called “dialectics,” which allowed him to examine binaries, or opposing sides. Dialectics point out contradictions within a prevailing argument.

Derrida cited Hegel as an important figure in his development of deconstruction, which some argue is an offshoot of Hegel’s dialectics. Hegel proposed that the Self must confront the Other to understand the differences and similarities between the two. However, Hegel’s philosophy emphasized the convergence of the binaries in its final argument, while Derrida argued that binaries could never converge.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1779) was a philosopher, writer, and composer. Rousseau lived during and contributed to the Age of Enlightenment. He developed political theories in Discourse on Inequality and The Social Contract. His novel, Emile, or On Education, contributed to theories about education. In Essay on the Origin of Languages, Rousseau proposes that language emerged as a way of expressing emotion. In Confessions, Rousseau champions speech as elevated above writing.

Derrida criticizes Rousseau, who was known as a maverick within the philosophical community, for his adherence to logocentric ideologies and his role in upholding the Western prejudice against writing. Rousseau repeated Aristotle’s sentiments that speech is a more divine form of language than the written word. Derrida challenges this idea, arguing for viewing writing and speech as equals. The second half of Derrida’s Of Grammatology deals primarily with Rousseau’s arguments in Essay on the Origin of Languages while bringing in some of Rousseau’s other works on politics and education.

Martin Heidegger was a German philosopher whose work focused on phenomenology and existentialism. Heidegger’s history and influence as a philosopher is complicated by his association with and support of the Nazi Party during World War II. He was principally occupied with understanding the nature of being and how it relates to time. In his work Being and Time, Heidegger outlines his theory of Being, or ontology, which argues that humans contain an innate sense of knowing. Heidegger saw language and Being as intertwined. A person’s use of language is the exhibition of their Being.