Flipped Learning : Derrida and Deconstruction
This blog is part of a flipped learning task on Derrida and Deconstruction, assigned by Dr. Dilip Barad. The questions are answered after watching the videos. Let's first understand what flipped learning means.
Flipped Learning Task { For overview of assigned task }
Flipped Learning Task
Flipped Learning is an instructional paradigm wherein direct instruction is relocated from the collective classroom setting to the individual learning domain. Consequently, the classroom evolves into an active, collaborative space where the educator facilitates deeper exploration, critical engagement, and creative application of concepts.
Jacques Derrida
He was a French philosopher and the founder of deconstruction, a method of critical analysis that challenges fixed meanings in texts. He questioned traditional Western philosophy, especially its preference for concepts like presence, origin, and certainty. One of his key ideas is "différance", which suggests that meaning in language is always delayed and shaped by differences—not something fixed or final.
Derrida’s work reshaped the fields of literary criticism, philosophy, linguistics, and cultural theory, making readers more aware of the hidden assumptions in language and thought.
Video 1: Defining Deconstruction
Why is it difficult to define Deconstruction ?
One of the biggest challenges with deconstruction is that even Derrida refused to define it clearly. In fact, he questioned whether any concept in philosophy or theory can ever be defined once and for all. According to Derrida, every definition has its limits, and meaning is never fixed it keeps shifting depending on context, interpretation, and language.
This idea itself forms the heart of deconstruction: it’s a method (or rather, an attitude) of reading texts that questions how meaning is created and how stable or unstable that meaning is.
As a result:
Deconstruction challenges the very idea of fixed definitions.
It asks us to read texts in a way that looks for contradictions, gaps, and tensions.
Therefore, it cannot be boxed into a single, rigid definition.
Derrida once said: “Deconstruction is not a method. It is not a tool or a technique.”
Instead of giving us a neat answer, deconstruction asks us to stay open to multiple meanings. That’s why it’s so hard to define, and yet so powerful when understood in practice.
2. Is Deconstruction a negative term?
The word “deconstruction” sounds like destruction —like tearing something apart. So it's natural to assume it’s negative. But this is a misunderstanding.
Derrida clearly stated that deconstruction is not about destroying ideas or texts. Instead, it is about:
- Inquiring into the foundations of philosophical and literary systems,
- Understanding what holds a system together, and
- Revealing the internal contradictions or assumptions that might make the system unstable.
- In simple terms, deconstruction does not aim to break things down for the sake of breaking. It aims to understand and rethink how things are built — especially the ideas, values, and binaries that form the basis of Western thought.
Derrida was inspired by German philosopher Heidegger, who had a project called "Destruction" of metaphysical concepts — but Derrida translated and transformed that into deconstruction, with a less violent and more thoughtful purpose.
📌 Deconstruction is a critical tool — not for destroying meaning, but for understanding how meaning is made, and how it can change.
3. How does Deconstruction happen on its own?
This is one of the most fascinating aspects of deconstruction.
Derrida argued that deconstruction is not something we apply to a text like a hammer to a wall. Instead, it happens on its own, from within the text. Why?
Because every system of thought (or every text) is built on binary oppositions — like:
- Good vs Evil
- Light vs Dark
- Male vs Female
- Speech vs Writing
These oppositions seem stable, but when we look closely, we find that one side is always privileged over the other, and this creates an imbalance. Deconstruction shows that these oppositions are not natural or fixed they are constructed. And the very elements that create these oppositions also have the power to undo them.
This is how deconstruction works:
A text contains the seeds of its own questioning.
Derrida uses the word "différance" (a French word combining “difference” and “deferral”) to describe this process. It suggests that meaning is always deferred (never final) and different depending on context.
So when we read a text closely, we don’t need to bring deconstruction from the outside. The contradictions, the gaps, the tensions they’re already there. Deconstruction just helps us to notice them.
Video 2: Heideggar and Derrida
The Influence of Heidegger on Derrida
Jacques Derrida was deeply influenced by Martin Heidegger, especially in his idea of deconstruction. In fact, the German word “Destruktion” used by Heidegger was translated into French as “déconstruction”, which Derrida later adopted and developed.
Heidegger believed that Western philosophy had ignored the “question of Being” —that is, the deeper meaning behind the existence of things. He wanted to dismantle centuries of philosophical tradition to rethink how we understand existence. Derrida continued this mission, but shifted focus towards language, meaning, and writing.
👉 In short: Heidegger planted the seeds by challenging traditional thought, and Derrida carried it forward through the tool of deconstruction.
Derridean Rethinking of the Foundations of Western Philosophy
Derrida wanted to transform the very foundation of how Western philosophy thinks. He believed that Western thought is built on binary oppositions such as reason/emotion, speech/writing, presence/absence where one term is always privileged over the other.
Deconstruction challenges these oppositions by showing how they are unstable and interdependent. Derrida also criticized the “metaphysics of presence” the idea that presence (especially spoken language) is more truthful or valuable than absence (like written text).
👉 Key Point: Derrida rethinks philosophy by decentering the human subject, questioning binary logic, and giving importance to what was traditionally neglected like writing.
Ferdinand de Saussure’s Concept of Language and Derrida
Derrida also draws from Ferdinand de Saussure, the father of modern linguistics. Saussure argued that:
- Meaning is arbitrary (there is no natural connection between word and meaning),
- Relational (words gain meaning only through their difference from other words),
- And constitutive (language structures our understanding of reality).
Derrida built on these ideas to show that meaning is never fixed. He introduced the concept of “différance”, where meaning is always deferred and depends on context. Derrida also criticized Saussure’s preference for speech over writing, calling it phonocentrism.
👉 In simple terms: Derrida agrees that meaning is made through differences in language, but he goes further — showing that language is full of gaps, shifts, and delays that make meaning unstable.
Video 3: Saussurean and Derrida
How Derrida Deconstructs the Idea of Arbitrariness
Ferdinand de Saussure argued that the relationship between a word (like “sister”) and its meaning is arbitrary there’s no natural connection, only social convention.
👉 Derrida takes this further. He says:
- Meaning is not even fixed in the mind, as Saussure suggests.
- Instead, every word refers to another word, not to a stable concept.
- Meaning is always shifting and deferred, never final.
This leads to Derrida’s concept of “différance” — the idea that meaning comes from difference and delay. Thus, Derrida deconstructs Saussure by showing that meaning is never stable, and arbitrariness runs even deeper than Saussure imagined.
What is the Metaphysics of Presence?
The metaphysics of presence is the belief that truth, being, or meaning is most real when it is present, immediate, and visible — especially in speech.
👉 Derrida critiques this idea by showing:
- Western philosophy privileges presence over absence (e.g., speech over writing, man over woman, light over darkness).
- These binary oppositions are not neutral — one term is always seen as primary, the other as secondary.
- This privileging is called logocentrism, and it reflects deep biases in language and thought.
- Derrida also critiques phonocentrism — the belief that speech is more authentic than writing — as part of this bias.
📌 In short: The metaphysics of presence is the hidden foundation of Western thought that Derrida exposes and questions through deconstruction.
Video 4: DifferAnce
Derridean Concept of Différance
The term différance is coined by Jacques Derrida using a deliberate spelling twist using an “a” instead of the expected “e” in difference. It’s a pun in French that cannot be heard (since both sound the same), only seen in writing which itself is a critique of Western philosophy’s bias toward speech.
Derrida uses différance to challenge the idea that meaning is fixed or present. Instead, différance is:
- A force, not a concept.
- What allows difference between words (e.g., black is known by not being white).
- What causes delay/deferral of meaning — it is never final or complete.
Infinite Play of Meaning
Derrida illustrates this using a dictionary example:
- Look up a word like interest you find more words like hobby, advantage, share.
- Then you look up those words and the chain continues. 👉 Meaning always leads to more words there is no final meaning.
This endless chain is what Derrida calls the “infinite play of signifiers” where each word gets its meaning from another word, not from some fixed concept in the mind.
4.3. Différance = To Differ + To Defer
Derrida combines two ideas in one term:
- To differ: Meaning arises through contrast (black ≠ white).
- To defer: Meaning is always postponed; it never fully arrives.
Différance is what makes communication possible but also shows that we never reach complete understanding. Meaning is always in motion.
Video 5: Structure, Sign and Play
Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences
Jacques Derrida’s essay "Structure, Sign and Play" (1967) is considered a foundational text of post-structuralism. In this essay, Derrida critiques structuralism especially the work of anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss by showing its inbuilt contradictions.
Structuralism aimed to criticize the metaphysical and scientific traditions of the West. However, Derrida points out that structuralists unknowingly repeat the same assumptions they try to reject like belief in fixed meaning or origin.
This contradiction shows that criticism cannot fully escape the system it critiques. Structuralism, in trying to go beyond metaphysics, still depends on metaphysical ideas such as stable structures, central meanings, and universal truths.
👉 Derrida uses this to introduce post-structuralism, which doesn't reject structuralism entirely but goes beyond it by revealing how unstable and self-contradictory systems like language and meaning really are.
Explain: “Language bears within itself the necessity of its own critique.”
This famous line from Derrida captures the essence of deconstruction.
Here’s what it means:
- Language carries built-in assumptions — about truth, presence, meaning, etc.
But those very assumptions can be questioned using language itself.
Since language never delivers a final, fixed meaning (as shown by Derrida’s idea of différance), every statement made in language is open to critique and reinterpretation.
Even when a thinker tries to criticize a system, they must use the same language that contains the system’s assumptions. Therefore, language demands its own critique, because it is never neutral or stable.
📌 For example, structuralism tries to critique Western metaphysics, but it still relies on metaphysical ideas. Derrida says: even deconstruction is not free from this — it must also deconstruct itself.
Video 6: Yale School
The Yale School: The Hub of Deconstruction in Literary Theory
The Yale School of Deconstruction emerged in the 1970s at Yale University’s Department of English. It played a key role in bringing Jacques Derrida’s deconstruction from European philosophy into American literary criticism.
Prominent figures associated with the Yale School include:
- Paul de Man
- J. Hillis Miller
- Geoffrey Hartman
- Harold Bloom
These scholars made deconstruction both famous and controversial in the U.S., earning the nickname "the Yale Hermeneutic Mafia." They shifted deconstruction from abstract theory to a powerful tool for literary analysis, challenging both aesthetic appreciation and historical/contextual approaches to literature.
Characteristics of the Yale School of Deconstruction
The Yale School has three main features that define its approach:
1. Emphasis on Rhetoric and Figuration
Literature is seen as highly figurative (full of metaphors, allegories, etc.).
Language is viewed as unreliable and ambiguous, leading to multiple meanings rather than one fixed interpretation.
Example: Saying “He is an ass” can be metaphorical or literal — this confusion is central to deconstruction.
2. Critique of Aesthetic and Historical Approaches
The Yale critics reject the idea that language transparently reflects reality or society.
They also question the aesthetic pleasure of literature, arguing that we often mistake the word (signifier) for the thing it represents (signified).
According to Paul de Man, aesthetic experience is an illusion created by language itself.
3. Re-reading of Romanticism
The Yale School reinterprets Romantic poetry, especially Wordsworth and others.
Traditionally, Romanticism values organic metaphors and unity between poet (subject) and nature (object).
But Paul de Man argues that allegory and irony, not metaphor, dominate Romantic texts — revealing undecidability and conflict, not harmony.
📌 These critics show that literary texts resist final interpretation and reveal internal contradictions — supporting Derrida’s idea of the “free play” of meaning.
Video 7: Other Schools and Deconstruction
- Focused mainly on rhetorical and figurative analysis of literary texts.
- Aimed to show that a literary text has multiple meanings and is inherently unstable.
- Influenced by Derrida’s ideas such as those in Structure, Sign and Play, particularly the idea that meaning is always deferred, not fixed.
- Yale School explored ambiguity and language play in texts.
- Other schools adopted deconstruction to expose ideology, challenge power structures, and reveal instabilities in identity, history, and discourse.
- Derrida’s ideas have thus impacted a wide range of critical approaches, making deconstruction a core tool for literary and cultural analysis.
Conclusion:
Deconstruction, as introduced by Jacques Derrida, began as a method to reveal the inherent instability of language and the multiplicity of meanings within texts. While the Yale School focused on its literary and rhetorical aspects, other critical approachessuch as New Historicism, Cultural Materialism, Feminism, Marxism, and Postcolonial Theoryadapted deconstruction as a powerful analytical tool to question dominant ideologies, subvert binary structures, and expose the hidden assumptions underlying historical, cultural, and political narratives. Thus, deconstruction evolved from a literary technique into a transformative lens across disciplines, helping scholars rethink how meaning, identity, power, and history are constructed and contested through language.
References :
Barad, Dilip. “Deconstruction and Derrida.” Dilip Barad’s Blog, 21 Mar. 2015, blog.dilipbarad.com/2015/03/deconstruction-and-derrida.html
Barad, Dilip. “Flipped Learning Network.” Dilip Barad’s Blog, 9 Jan. 2016, blog.dilipbarad.com/2016/01/flipped-learning-network.html
DoE‑MKBU. Unit 5: 5.1 Derrida & Deconstruction – Definition (Final). YouTube, uploaded by DoE‑MKBU, 13 years ago, https://youtu.be/gl-3BPNk9gs?si=dzBJqiW3U800l3z9
DoE‑MKBU. Unit 5: 5.2.1 Derrida & Deconstruction – Heideggar (Final). YouTube, uploaded by DoE‑MKBU, 13 years ago, https://youtu.be/buduIQX1ZIw?si=x7PLTLbZrwX56N1b
DoE‑MKBU. Unit 5: 5.2.2 Derrida & Deconstruction – Ferdinand de Saussure (Final). YouTube, uploaded by DoE‑MKBU, 13 years ago, https://youtu.be/V7M9rDyjDbA?si=ZjuD65TegBFOxPy-
DoE‑MKBU. Unit 5: 5.3 Derrida and Deconstruction – DifferAnce (Final). YouTube, uploaded by DoE‑MKBU, 13 years ago, https://youtu.be/WJPlxjjnpQk?si=1lY14LrRY8SzZkAP
DoE‑MKBU. Unit 5: 5.4 Derrida & Deconstruction – Structure, Sign & Play (Final). YouTube, uploaded by DoE‑MKBU, 13 years ago, https://youtu.be/eOV2aDwhUas?si=jPueDUt0crhGyGxQ
DoE‑MKBU. Unit 5: 5.5 Derrida & Deconstruction – Yale School (Final). YouTube, uploaded by DoE‑MKBU, 13 years ago, https://youtu.be/J_M8o7B973E?si=qIB1rYMT55_6fHrO
DoE‑MKBU. Unit 5: 5.6 Derrida & Destruction: Influence on other critical theories (Final). YouTube, uploaded by DoE‑MKBU, 13 years ago, https://youtu.be/hAU-17I8lGY?si=9zs6rY3zHk9j-FtZ
