Here we look at the concept of deconstruction. This is a term that has a complex characterization and is widely known in various circles of society. It has a significant impact on the artistic techniques of various kinds of literature and is a special form of understanding information.
Introduction
Deconstruction is a concept that defines itself as an integral element of art or philosophy and allows the subject to perceive and understand a certain kind of information in a new way. Interpretation of data occurs through the destruction of standard stereotypes or the inclusion of new types of context.
The author of the deconstruction was Jacques Derrida, a literary theorist and philosophical thinker from France. The need to create such a term was due to the fact that the meaning of the information begins to be constructed by the subject during the reading, and the overall picture of the material presented is most often trivial or imposed by the author using repressive instances. This is precisely what caused the need to provoke and initiate the release of thoughts that are hidden in the depths of the metaphorical text. The contribution of such information is very, very often not controlled by the author himself. The concept of deconstruction is rooted in Heidegger's ideological themes. The amplification of the term was due to the intervention of a number of psychoanalytic, Marxist and Zen Buddhist allusions.
About the creator of the concept
Jacques Derrida is the author of the method of deconstruction. A native of France, actively engaged in the study of philosophy and theory of literature. It is considered one of the most influential philosophical thinkers of the twentieth century. His work is often ignored in the Anglo-American tradition of analytic-type philosophy.
Judging by his writings, Derrida's main task was to confront the usual traditions of European philosophy. Thanks to this, he was able to rethink the place of people in the real world. Almost all of his writings were criticized, the accusations of which were drawn from accusations of excessive pedantry of the analyzed texts, up to the cries that he was obscurantist. Despite this, J. Derrida tried to give answers to most of his opponents in the discussion.
The works of this thinker touched on a wide variety of issues, ranging from a number of problems of an ontological and epistemological nature to linguistic, literary, aesthetic, psychoanalytic, theological, as well as political and ethical problems.
The theoretical foundations of J. Derrida
The deconstruction of Derrida was born with his work On Gramatology, which was published in 1967.
Derrida criticized the traditional position of European philosophy of those times for the presence of logocentrism in judgments. This concept is a type of structuring of thought that surrounds the central component and thereby leads to the displacement of the cognizability of the elements of a certain field of study. In accordance with logo-centrism, each semantic unit has self-sufficiency. However, Derrida did not agree with this, because he believed that any semantic content, such as words, refers us to a number of other symbols that can exist only in interconnection with each other.
The concept of logocentrism
The presence of logocentrism leads to the emergence of some oppositions, such as: formal-logical, mythological and dialectical. They form a single system of European thought processes and give them a hierarchical form, which is observed when alternating the variable phenomena of good and evil, rationalism and emotions, etc. The main purpose of deconstruction is to analyze such oppositions and equalize rights for both (opposite) components. Next, the probability of their existence is estimated. The main misconceptions of the provisions of logo-centrism, in particular, include the prevalence of “rights” of the present over the past.
Identification of logo-centrism
Deconstruction is a consideration of the constituent elements by mechanical analysis, and their analysis is designed to determine the principles of the system as a whole. If we talk about the text, then there is the identification of possible conflicting statements between the logical and rhetorical content of the text. In other words, deconstruction allows you to determine the degree of interconnection between language and semantic content.
Derrida tried to show people that the course of the work itself is important, and not the final picture. It is necessary that a person does not get bogged down in the thickness of the language that serves as an intermediary, but tries to “break up the hardened thickness of speech units” by breaking up and redistributing the content.
In accordance with the statements of Jacques Derrida, it is necessary to find a difference that is characterized by the definition of binary oppositions from the main set of concepts and their antipodes. An example is the separation of Kant's transcendence and empiricism in Critique of Pure Reason. Inversion is also a method of deconstruction, which is a replacement of the basic concept with its opposite version.
Reception phenomenon
The theoretical propositions of deconstruction are extremely important for postmodernism. This is due to the fact that the very form of awareness of the text is changing here, and linguistic units are only a tool of an independent actor. The deconstruction of postmodernism includes an approach based on shifting focus from the “open” content conveyed in the text to the intermediary, which is the language, and it also reveals unlikely details and marginalities that reveal the hidden meaning of the text, for example, that which is hidden metaphorically.
Considering deconstruction in a broad sense, it can be associated with a critical form of rethinking various types of canons, such as, for example, literary, philosophical, historical, etc.
In Europe, deconstruction methods were a response to the emergence of structuralism and laid the foundation for a large number of post-structuralist methodologies.
Deconstruction and literature
In the United States, the phenomenon under consideration actively developed from the late sixties to the early eighties of the twentieth century. Yale is a famous follower of this type of text assessment. Representatives who have made a significant contribution to the development of deconstruction are Paul de Man, J. Hartman, H. Miller and others.
R. Bart introduced the idea, which narrated about the independence of the texts in relation to its creator himself, the author. In literature, deconstruction is a subjective type of criticism of a perceived text and a complete independent interpretation of it (text). Deconstructive methods applicable to the study of the annals of time have made fundamental changes in historiography.
Relationship with the legal field
Theoretically, subjects studying the legal sphere of human activity regard the hierarchical structure of society as the main source of logical judgments and forms of law. The main statement wants to convey to a person the fact that the law cannot be separated from political activity, and therefore it cannot be left neutral. To demonstrate the uncertainty of the famous doctrines of law, scientists use the methods of linguistic structuralism and philosophical deconstruction. These tools are necessary to narrow the broad content of categories and terminology in the legal text and / or speech.
Influence on Architecture
Derrida's deconstruction methods had a significant impact on the development of architecture and led to the emergence of a new trend called deconstructivism. Its characteristic features are apostasy in relation to classical forms, the complication of visual perception and the introduction of asymmetry. And also significant properties are fracture and deliberation, emphasizing the aggressiveness of the invasion of the city look.
Deconstruction and popular culture
In a culture intended for mass viewing, deconstruction is a fixed approach in the form of revisionism. A kind of rethinking of the traditional set of foundations and generally accepted provisions, entrenched in the study of the plot and / or trail. She vividly expresses herself in the culture of postmodernism and tries to operate with completed forms and styles of artistic subjects, addressed to eternal storylines and themes. The manifestation is found in the prism of irony and / or self-irony, showing the unnaturalness and inapplicability of artistic styles to the conditions of reality of the “today” today.
Deconstruction is used to improve understanding of the meaning of content. Often this leads to the determination of the inevitable paths of archetypal structures. Their contradiction and confirming factors are revealed, indicating the inconsistency of certain conventions in various life situations of reality. An example of deconstruction that can be applied to paths is the following questions:
- What would be the consequences of a particular path in real life?
- What was the circumstance that allowed a certain path to appear?
There is a concept of deconstruction of the genre, which includes a critical and / or ironic assessment of a number of characteristics of the genre paths, the promotion of the plot and its character. Deconstruction often has a gloomy, parody, and cynical character, sometimes separately.
Strategic incident
Deconstruction methods make it possible to identify the presence of logocentrism in almost any text by detecting binary oppositions, among which one shows dominance over the other and leads to the establishment of a hierarchical order. In other words, the opposition of deconstruction is opposed to hierarchy.
Deconstruction tries to show that there is no evidence of a common principle. However, in fact it does not deny it as a whole. The main tasks are the statement of its immanent divisibility, repeatability and structurality.
Based on the provisions of deconstruction, two strategic approaches to the definition of semantic content are distinguished, the first of which is based on a new analysis of metaphysical texts of the West, and the second is the identification of “aporias” of the text, which are represented by insoluble contradictions. Aporias may be relevant for our temporary positions and, therefore, do not have to be connected with the history of philosophy. Deconstruction in philosophy also draws its attention to etymological data, the similarity of meanings, the definition of implicit metaphors. As a result of this, deconstruction of philosophy itself occurs.
To summarize
By analyzing a number of provisions of deconstruction and its methodological techniques, we can define it as a special form of rethinking the content of any work of art, from text to sculptures or paintings, in order to identify hidden content that can be embedded even independently of the author, for example, at the subconscious level. The deconstruction was created by Jacques Derrida and made great changes to the development of modern cultural positions in various fields of human activity.