Derrida on Diffrance

Kareem Khalifa
Department of Philosophy
Middlebury College

Overview

Jacques Derrida (JD) Bio

Metaphysics of presence
Diffrance
How Presence Presupposes
Diffrance
Diffrance as Critical Tool
Derrida as Continental
Philosopher

I. Biography
Born July 15, 1931 El-Biar, Algeria
Central advocate of deconstruction
a process by which the texts and languages of
Western philosophy (in particular) appear to
shift and complicate in meaning when read in
light of the assumptions and absences they
reveal within themselves.
Major Works:
Speech and Phenomena (1967), Of
Grammatology (1967), Writing and Difference
(1967), Glas (1974), Limited, Inc. (1977),
Postcard ( 1980), Margins of Philosophy (1982),
Specters of Marx (1993), Politics of Friendship
(1994), ...
Died October 8, 2004

II. Metaphysics of
presence (MP)
Recall from Heidegger: MP = treating
Being as present, i.e., given in an
uncontroversial manner
Forgetting the difference between Being
and beings [entities]

Discourages asking questions about

ones life, values, etc., since these
things are taken for granted

Derridas corrective to
MP: A very rough sketch
Goal: not to take things for granted;
to recognize their contingency
Provides occasion to examine ones
life, values, institutions, etc.

JD: So make MP rest on a deeper

framework in which presence is
questioned, problematized, &
difficult to take for granted.

How to fill out this

sketch
Specify what this deeper framework is
Diffrance

Specify how MP rests on a deeper

framework
Everything present/given has a trace of
Diffrance

Specify the kinds of questions and

problems this framework encourages
us to pose to taken-for-granted
concepts.
Whats being left out? Whats being
assumed?

III. Diffrance: The

Deeper Framework
Diffrance: JDs own word
Plays on two meanings in French
word diffrer:
To Differ: to exhibit nonequivalence
To Defer: to postpone

Diffrance refers to an underlying

motif common to both concepts

The meaning of a concept rests on its

differences with other concepts, and
part of its meaning is deferred
(incomplete, absent)

Diffrance Articulated

Diffrance refers to the

production of differences
and the differences
between differences =
play of differences
(441)

Example of play
Temporary

Vicious

Evil

Inept

Good

Bad

Service

IV. Diffrance and

Presence

Concepts are never present in

themselves, but always require
other concepts with which they
must differ.

Every concept is necessarily and

essentially inscribed in a chain or a
system, within which it refers to
another and to other concepts, by the
systematic play of differences. (449)

These other concepts appear as a

trace of the given concept

Continuing with our

example
Any use of a concept like good
would presuppose that good plays a
role in our thought & language only
because:
It differs from other concepts (evil,
service, inept, etc.)

As a result, its meaning is deferred,

i.e., part of what it means to be good
has yet to be determined
The concepts with which it differs can
change over time

V. Diffrance as a
critical strategy
Recap:
JD specifies diffrance as the
framework upon which all things
present rest
JDs remaining task: Specify the
kinds of questions and problems this
framework encourages us to pose to
taken-for-granted concepts.

Questions
Treating diffrance as primordial
would encourage us to question the
authority of presence or its simple
symmetrical contrary, absence or
lack. (448)
Whats a concept being (implicitly)
contrasted with? Who/what is being
excluded by the use of the concept?

VI. Derrida as
Continental Philosopher
JD argues that certain concepts are:

Taken for granted, because they are

caught up in MP;
Contingent, because they rest on
differences with other concepts, and
these differences change over time;
Bad/Problematic, because they foreclose
certain possibilities & exclude certain
people/things; and
Can be changed for the better by
recognizing the play of differences
underlying the use of a concept.