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Single Idea 21885

[filed under theme 19. Language / A. Nature of Meaning / 10. Denial of Meanings ]

Full Idea

Words only exist is 'spacings' (of time and space), so there are no synchronic meanings (except perhaps in writing).

Clarification

'Synchronic' means occurring together

Gist of Idea

Words exist in 'spacing', so meanings are never synchronic except in writing

Source

Jacques Derrida (works [1990]), quoted by Barry Stocker - Derrida on Deconstruction

Book Ref

Stocker,Barry: 'Derrida on Deconstruction' [Routledge 2006], p.55

The 38 ideas from Jacques Derrida

21932 'Différance' is the interwoven history of each sign [Derrida, by Glendinning]
8210 Deconstructing philosophy gives the history of concepts, and the repressions behind them [Derrida]
8211 The movement of 'différance' is the root of all the oppositional concepts in our language [Derrida]
6840 Derrida came to believe in the undeconstructability of justice, which cannot be relativised [Derrida, by Critchley]
21936 A community must consist of singular persons, with nothing in common [Derrida, by Glendinning]
21937 Can there be democratic friendship without us all becoming identical? [Derrida, by Glendinning]
21929 Derrida focuses on ambiguity, but talks of 'dissemination', not traditional multiple meanings [Derrida]
8213 I try to analyse certain verbal concepts which block and confuse the dialectical process [Derrida]
8216 Deconstruction is not neutral; it intervenes [Derrida]
8212 Everything that is experienced in consciousness is meaning [Derrida]
21885 Words exist in 'spacing', so meanings are never synchronic except in writing [Derrida]
21931 'Dissemination' is opposed to polysemia, since that is irreducible, because of multiple understandings [Derrida, by Glendinning]
21934 The idea of being as persistent presence, and meaning as conscious intelligibility, are self-destructive [Derrida, by Glendinning]
21886 Meanings depend on differences and contrasts [Derrida]
21930 For Aristotle all proper nouns must have a single sense, which is the purpose of language [Derrida]
21884 Capacity for repetitions is the hallmark of language [Derrida]
21935 The sign is only conceivable as a movement between elusive presences [Derrida]
21933 Writing functions even if the sender or the receiver are absent [Derrida, by Glendinning]
21881 We aim to explore the limits of expression (as in Mallarmé's poetry) [Derrida]
21892 Interpretations can be interpreted, so there is no original 'meaning' available [Derrida]
20925 Hermeneutics blunts truth, by conforming it to the interpreter [Derrida, by Zimmermann,J]
20934 Hermeneutics is hostile, trying to overcome the other person's difference [Derrida, by Zimmermann,J]
21895 Structuralism destroys awareness of dynamic meaning [Derrida]
21887 Derrida focuses on other philosophers, rather than on science [Derrida]
21888 Philosophy is just a linguistic display [Derrida]
21896 Philosophy aims to build foundations for thought [Derrida, by May]
21893 Philosophy is necessarily metaphorical, and its writing is aesthetic [Derrida]
21883 Sincerity can't be verified, so fiction infuses speech, and hence reality also [Derrida]
21882 Sentences are contradictory, as they have opposite meanings in some contexts [Derrida]
4756 Derrida says that all truth-talk is merely metaphor [Derrida, by Engel]
21877 True thoughts are inaccessible, in the subconscious, prior to speech or writing [Derrida]
21878 Names have a subjective aspect, especially the role of our own name [Derrida]
21889 'I' is the perfect name, because it denotes without description [Derrida]
21879 Even Kripke can't explain names; the word is the thing, and the thing is the word [Derrida]
21891 The good is implicitly violent (against evil), so there is no pure good [Derrida]
21890 Heidegger showed that passing time is the key to consciousness [Derrida]
21880 'Tacit theory' controls our thinking (which is why Freud is important) [Derrida]
21894 Madness and instability ('the demonic hyperbole') lurks in all language [Derrida]