The movement of that great thought which began with the greeks and culminated in hegel was the idea of metaphysics, the science of being qua being. His work was soon noticed by american literary critics and theorists, and his ideas gained currency in the literary departments. Like formalists, these critics also look at the relation of a texts ideas to the way the ideas are expressed. Indeed, aristotles theory of the categories pursues the objective of. Metaphysics is the philosophical investigation of the ultimate nature of reality. In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content walter glannon what literary theory misses in wittgenstein wittgensteins stock is rising in literary criticism. This translation of the central books of the metaphysics aims at no literary value, only literalness.
Literary theory is a description of the underlying principles, one might say the tools, by which we attempt to. Philosophy, literature, textual play roquentin and the metaphysics of presence. Husserls student martin heidegger 18891976 proved to be one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century, and the major modern exponent of existentialism. The ongoing replacement of meaning and representation of the text is.
That is, in order to attack centred structures, one has to make use of concepts that come from them, and in so doing one resurrects these, gives them validity, at the very moment at which one makes use of them. Pdf jacques derridas deconstruction of western metaphysics. When derrida deconstructs rousseau, claiming that his theory of language and representation is committed to the metaphysics of presence, he misses the point. The role of metaphor in the development of poststructuralism, based on derridas ideas fardin hosseinpanahi seyed asaad sheikhahmadi abstract poststructuralists, especially derrida rely on processes and mechanisms such as. Jacques derrida stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Deconstructionists oppose the metaphysics of presence, that is, the claim of literature or philosophy that we can find some full, rich meaning outside of or prior to language itself. Deconstruction often involves a way of reading that concerns itself with decenteringwith unmasking the problematic nature of all centers. American fiction and the metaphysics of the grotesque will significantly alter our understanding of certain traditions in american literature. Nov 19, 2007 against the metaphysics of presence, deconstruction brings a nonconcept called differance. The deconstruction theory of derrida and heidegger a study. Jacques derrida criticizes the bulk of western philosophy as being based on a logocentric metaphysics of presence, which insists on the presence of some such ultimate guarantee. A systematic theoretical matrix for a deconstruction of metaphysics. Key theories of jacques derrida literary theory and. Loux provides a fresh look at the central topics in metaphysics, making this essential reading for any student of the subject.
Instead, absence can be thought of as a kind of presence and presence as a kind of absence. Oct 03, 2001 roquentin and the metaphysics of presence. Let me set aside the question of what affirmation of acentricity and free play would look. He originates a trendbreaking theory of deconstruction. Philosophy, literature, textual play zalloua, zahi anbra 20011003 00. Instead, absence can be thought of as a kind of presence and presence. Deconstruction and the circular ruins project muse. Development of metaphysics in p e r s i a a contribution to the history of muslim philosophy by muhammad iqbal east lansing, mi. Metaphysics of science between metaphysics and science 3 by contrast, chemical or biological theories, for instance, are not fundamental. On the metaphysics of presence philosophy in a time of. In most cases, these systems were given classical shape by particular philosophers of genius. Key theories of martin heidegger literary theory and criticism. Like foundational mathematics which is sometimes considered a special case of metaphysics applied to the existence of number, it tries to give a coherent account of the structure of the world, capable of explaining our everyday and scientific perception of the world and being free from contradictions. Still, there is a version of derrida put around, for the most part, by literary and.
With the focus on literature as a rhetorical construct, more traditional humanistic interpretations have been excised. Writing can thus be seen as a dangerous supplement rheinberger 2008. I poststructuralism is marked by a rejection of totalizing, essentialist, foundationalist concepts. For him, literary discourse is parasitic upon its normal use, which fall under the doctrine of the etiolations of language. Derridas enduring references to the metaphysics of presence borrows. Metaphysics in the critical work of jacques derridas writing. It refers to the tradition of western science and philosophy that regards words and language as a fundamental expression of an external reality. Nta ugc net english poststructuralism literary theory. Deconstruction uses the very metaphysics and linguistic resources it seeks to deconstruct. Derrida characterizes as the metaphysics of presence.
It has published work by many trailblazing thinkers and seeks to take forward the movement of. Jan 31, 2018 home literary criticism key theories of martin heidegger. Deconstruction theory literary theory and criticism. Metaphysics an overview basic concepts, methods, issues, questions, and arguments topic i. In this sense, oral language already belongs to a generalized writing, the e. Pdf the chapter delivers a biref description of derridas critique of the metaphisics of presence and shows its relevant implications. About as close to aristotles greek, syntax and all, as one can get in english. Deconstruction has had an enormous influence in psychology, literary theory, cultural.
Literary theory internet encyclopedia of philosophy. Jay notes how western discourse has for millennia been tethered to the linking of subject to some grand unifying metaphysics of presence, a logocentric anchor that generations of. This metaphysical view renders authentic respect for nature impossible, and leads to the enslaved consumer societies of the age of technology. On derridas critique of the metaphysics of presence. Derrida uses the term difference to describe the origin of presence and absence. The information below is meant merely as a guide or introduction to modern literary theories and trends. The metaphysics of presence is a clunky philosopheme, one that in fact has a long trajectory now and its critique should no longer be considered radicalor in principle shouldnt. Metaphysics types of metaphysical theory britannica. Forthcoming in condensed draft in critical analysis of law. The second half of the twentieth century, with its torturous experiences of the world wars, holocaust and the advent of new technologies, witnessed revolutionary developments in literary theory that were to undermine several of the established notions of western literary and cultural.
In this article i refer to the metaphysics of presence through one major western thinkermartin heideggerwho identified presence as a problem for the west. Deconstruction in philosophy derrida characterizes as the metaphysics of presence. Characteristics of metaphysical poetry in english literature. American fiction and the metaphysics of the grotesque is a masterpiece of literary scholarship made easily accessible by the communicative skills of its author.
Project muse what literary theory misses in wittgenstein. On the metaphysics of presence philosophy in a time of error. Jacques derrida 19302004 was the founder of deconstruction, a way of criticizing not only both literary and philosophical texts but also political institutions. Mar 03, 2019 by working in this rhetorical mode, rousseaus text prefi gures its own misunderstanding as the correlative of its rhetorical nature 6. There is thus nothing outside the text, the text being the structurality of structure, whether it negates or affirms presence all thought affirms that the possibility of metaphysics comes about through its repetition, or iterability. Introduction to modern literary theory kristi siegel. Metaphysics is an area of philosophy concerned with what there is in the universe ontology and the nature of what exists. This is the tendency to conceive fundamental philosophical concepts such as truth, reality, and being in terms of ideas such as presence, essence, identity, and originand in the process to ignore the crucial role of absence and difference. Epistemology and the metaphysics of presence springerlink. Deconstruction deconstruction is a strategy of critical questioning directed towards exposing unquestionable metaphysical assumptions and internal contradictions in philosophical and literary language. Australian international academic centre, australia flou rish. Metaphysics and epistemology wireless philosophy khan academy.
A critique of postsaussurean literary theory, london. The object in what follows will be to present in outline metaphysical systems that have exercised, and indeed continue to exercise, a strong intellectual appeal. Jacques derrida literary and critical theory oxford. The metaphysical study is conducted using deduction from that which is known a priori. In his vision, metaphysics from plato to nietzsche postulates a selfknowing and selfpropelling autonomous agent, for whom nature exists only in so far as it is present, which means useful. The aim of this paper is to offer a critical overview of derridas deconstruction of western metaphysics, concentrating in particular on his early texts e. Strauss rightly undermines the link between history and the metaphysics of presence exposes futility of a search for the historical origin, for example. Deconstruction and the subject of literary history hardcover. The history of metaphysics, or ancient ontology, has to be overcome as it inaccurately creates a division between ideal and real, subject and object. Other articles where metaphysics of presence is discussed. By metaphysics of presenca notion i will describe more extensivelyi mean a set of assumptions about the socially constructed robustness of scientific knowl edge. Henderson and christopher brown feminist criticism.
Literary theory is the body of ideas and methods we use in the practical reading of literature. Through the revaluations of philosophers like deleuze and derrida, the terms absence and presence have lost their binaried distinction. Founded in 1977 it remains responsive to new concerns and committed to patient, inventive reading as the wellspring of critical research. Cold war criticism and the politics of skepticism by tobin. We should no longer pretend diagnoses made by heidegger a century ago or derrida forty year later, or deleuze only slightly more recently have proposed something that still must be thought as marginalized. Deconstruction, a theory about language and literature, was. Logocentrism is a term coined by the german philosopher ludwig klages in the early 1900s. Phonocentrism, logocentrism and the metaphysics of presence phonocentrism. And derridas goal of interpretation is mainly to deconstruct the logocentrism and metaphysics of presence that appear in traditional. It is not the case that everything that there is in the world is a chemical system such as a molecule or a biological system such as an organism. Ancient and medieval philosophers might have said that metaphysics was, like chemistry or astrology, to be defined by its subjectmatter. When theories are explained briefly, a necessary reduction in their complexity and richness occurs.
Western philosophy follows out a line of what jacques derrida has named the metaphysics of presence. Domain theories in their relation to each other and the role of metaphysics. Metaphysics metaphysics types of metaphysical theory. Pdf on derridas critique of the metaphysics of presence. Most of derridas work continues a line of thought which begins with. He opines the persistence in west european philosophical tradition of what he labels is logocentric metaphysics of presence. Poststructuralism by nasrullah mambrol on march 21, 2016. The chapter delivers a biref description of derridas critique of the metaphisics of presence and shows its relevant implications for scientific inquiry. Dec 18, 2014 in deconstruction, the metaphysics of presence is consideration challenging of the usually unchallenged assumption that is the privileged and so present idea by various means such as attending to the dependence of the idea on its opposite, on.
This third edition is revised and updated and includes. Derrida seeks to flip the hierarchies western culture relies on. The market value of expressions such as language games and form oflife is increasing in that they seem to lend themselves to the notion of interpretive communities endorsed by diose of readerresponse. Listeners assume that the speaker embodies the truth because the. Metaphysics of science between metaphysics and science.
Postwar literary theory has absorbed the skepticism, suspicion, and paranoia of the cold war mentality, and it plays them out in debates about the divided self, linguistic indeterminacy, the metaphysics of presence, multiculturalism, canon formation, power, cultural literacy, and the politics of literature. A supplement is something that is secondary, a sign of a sign, taking the place of speech already significant derrida 1976. Against the metaphysics of presence, deconstruction brings a nonconcept called differance. The concept of the metaphysics of presence is an important consideration in deconstruction. For this reason, derrida also refers to heliocentrism as embodying a logocentrism, in other words.
The deconstruction of western metaphysics jacques maritain center. Deconstructive interpretation holds that the entire history of western philosophy with its language and traditions has emphasized the desire for immediate access to meaning, and thus built a metaphysics or ontotheology based on privileging presence over absence. The essential rhetoricity of discourse undoes any metaphysics of presence or logocentrism, any orientation of philosophy, in cullers phrase, toward an order of meaning thought, truth, reason, logic, the word conceived of as existing in itself, as foundation. Derrida, jacques internet encyclopedia of philosophy. Heidegger writes that metaphysics is in decline and is approaching its end, as the earth informed by metaphysics. In french, the verb deferrer means both to defer and to differ. The concept of the metaphysics of presence is an important consideration in. Metaphysics acknowledges and respects the beauty in all of gods creation. Against the protest that contemporary disagreements in theory and practice cast doubt on the supposition that any single and coherent concept of this sort has universal sway in our culture, he argues that the intuitions and tacit assumptions which on my account form the basis of literary interpretation also underlie the practice of those critics and theorists who hold metacritical positions. Poststructuralism is, as the name suggests, consequent upon structuralism, with which movement one should have some familiarity in order to understand poststructuralism. There follow some of assumptions of poststructural thought. By literary theory we refer not to the meaning of a work of literature but to the theories that reveal what literature can mean. We should no longer pretend diagnoses made by heidegger a century ago or derrida forty year later, or deleuze only slightly more recently have proposed something. London luzac and company 1908 dedication to professor t.
The desire for an ultimate guarantee of meaning, whether god, truth, reason, or something else. Moreover, it focuses on love, as the union of soul. Beginning in the mid1970s he started teaching in the united states as well and became increasingly popular in the field of theory and comparative literature. In deconstruction, the metaphysics of presence is consideration challenging of the usually unchallenged assumption that is the privileged and so present idea by various means such as attending to the dependence of the idea on its opposite, on. On the thematic level, the feminist reader should identify with female characters and their concerns. There are many different terms that derrida employs to describe what he considers to be the fundamental ways of thinking of the western philosophical tradition. Derrida and maritain on identity brendan sweetman many have taken the work of jacques derrida to constitute a radical and powerful attack on the whole of the western philosophical tradition. Ontology, scientific realism and the metaphysics of presence in international relations volume 35 issue 2 torsten michel. This could lie in the intentions of the utterer or writer, or in some other semantic anchorage, such as the presence of a nonlinguistic idea or the presence of an ostended thing. American fiction and the metaphysics of the grotesque. Epistemology is a related area interested in knowledge and how we know things about the universe.
Key theories of martin heidegger by nasrullah mambrol on january 31, 2018 4. Metaphysics of presence if one were to say a is the rule and b is the exception or a is the general case and b is the special case, derrida flips them, and he argues b is just as vital to a as a is to b. Using the url or doi link below will ensure access to this page indefinitely. Logocentrism and the metaphysics of presence according to jacques derrida. A criticism advocating equal rights for women in a political, economic, social, psychological, personal, and aesthetic sense. Western metaphysics, therefore, is also a metaphysics of presence. Jacques derrida 19302004 is the most prominent figure in contemporary philosophical and literary debate. The simulacrum, then, is an absent presence, which circles around an images surface. Poststructuralist critics and literary theorists appropriate the term for the view that there is a privileged fixed point at which the meanings of terms are anchored. Writing is the endless displacement of meaning which both governs language and places it for ever beyond the reach of a stable, selfauthenticating knowledge. Philosophy, literature, textual play, the comparatist on deepdyve, the largest online rental service for scholarly research with thousands of academic publications available at your fingertips. Differance is indefinable, and cannot be explained by the metaphysics of presence. The main goal of deconstruction is to undermine this belief. Derrida himself, have been a critic of the metaphysics of presence, but paradoxically, he is as insistent that it is, for us, impossible to abandon, or escape from metaphysics.
Metaphysics does not explore religious beliefs and laws created by man, but rather, it explores the immutable laws of nature, set by the creator, goduniversal presence, in the creation of the universe. Presence is a faith, unity is a mistake or even a lie, form is a metaphor, and meaning is an arbitrary and now repetitious metaphysics. The following text was extracted from the cambridge history of literary criticism vol. He proposes that the metaphysics of presence underpins every perception in the west and that it is the fundamental mistake of philosophers since plato but becoming ascendant. A contemporary introduction is for students who have already done an introductory philosophy course. This is the tendency to conceive fundamental philosophical concepts such as truth, reality, and being in. A literary movement that started in the late 1920s and 1930s and originated in reaction to traditional criticism that new critics saw as largely concerned with matters extraneous to the text, e.
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