Title: Deconstruction Theory

Subject: From Structuralism to Poststructuralism 116-128

Date: 19,04,24

<aside> 💡 Key Points:

• Main Ideas
• Key words
• Questions that connect points
• Important points

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<aside> ✏️ Notes:

Main lecture notes

Binary oppositions

Deconstruction

Post-Truth

Truth or truth

Being or being- var olan - Varlık

Nature vs Human mind

Reality vs Truth

Objective reality

God is dead, which contributed to the absolescence of objective reality and of the autonomous scholar who seeks to discover ultimate reality.

There is no correct reading.

Derrida

There is no ultimate reality

For post modernists all that is left is difference.

There exists no center, nor one all encompassing objective reality, but as many realities as there are people.

Each person’s interpretation of reality of reality will necessarily be different. No one has a claim to absolute truth; therefore, tolerance of each other’s points of view becomes the postmodern maxim.

No such thing as objective reality exist; there is no ultimate truth because truth is perspectival, depending on the community and social group in which live. Since many truths exist we must learn to accept each other’s ideas concerning truth and we must learn to live side by side in a pluralistic society, learning from each other while celebrating our differences.

Logocentrism means based on rationality

Superiority of human reasoning

If its rational it is superior

God-Man

Man-Woman

Postmodernism’s core characteristics can be stated as follows;

• A skepticism or rejection of grand metanarratives to explain reality
• The concept of the self as ever-changing
• No objective reality, but many subjective interpretations.
• Truth is subjective and perspectival, depenent on cultural, social and personal, influences.
• No one correct concept of ultimate reality
• No metatheory to explain texts or reality
• No one correct interpretation of a text

Good-Bad

Mind-Body

Conceptual things are eternal

Aristotalion either/or Logic

Reason is the authority

Phonocentrism

Priviliged vs unpriviliged

Writing- Speech : Speech is unpriviliged so it is superior

Structure of the text based on binary oppositions

Good without bad can not be imaginable

There is no evil because the evil is the absense of good

God can not exist without Devil

Final için 4 veya 3 soru 2 tanesi cevaplanacak Kavramlar önemli* koyu yazılmış chapterlar

The Road not Taken

Discuss Russian formalism Form and New criticism

The Road not Taken

Iambic meter not strict

Transcendental signifier

Freud and Jung Decentring the individual and introducing ambiguity and fragmentation, modernism began to see life as a collage rather than a map.

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<aside> 📎 Summary:

A brief summary and conclusion about the notes/lecture

Jacques Derrida, a key figure in poststructuralist thought, proposed a radical critique of structuralism through the technique of deconstruction123. His work challenges the assumption that systems are self-sufficient structures and questions the possibility of the precise definitions on which systems of knowledge must be based2.

In Derrida’s view, poststructuralism is not a final “after” in the sense of a hurdle now passed. Instead, the “post” means “with but also different”. Deconstruction is still structuralism, but opened up and transformed1. This transformation takes place through an undermining of structuralism’s most fundamental claims to absolute truths1.

Derrida’s deconstruction of Husserl’s phenomenology and of nature and essence in structuralist theories of language, extends into the work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau1. Poststructuralism must be thought of as deconstruction, and not the opposite1.

As for modernity’s understanding of reality, it is often defined as a condition of social existence that is significantly different from all past forms of human experience45. Modernity is the belief in the freedom of the human being and in the human capacity to reason, combined with the intelligibility of the world, that is, amenability to human reason4.

One of the most prominent and lasting achievements of modernism in all its manifestations is the devaluation of the premise that we occupy an ‘objective’ reality, accessible to but independent of human perception6. In this sense of liberation, the modernist model for reality becomes the field (as in scientific field models), where observers are also participants6.

Modern Objectivity:

• Modernism, which emerged during the Enlightenment, is characterized by an emphasis on rationality, objectivity, and a belief in scientific and technological development3.
• It holds that there is an objective reality that can be discovered and understood through reason and empirical investigation13.
• Modernists believe in the existence of universal truths and standards, and they strive to discover these truths through logical reasoning and scientific inquiry13.

Postmodern Subjectivity:

• Postmodernism, which developed in the mid to late 20th century, rejects the modernist concept of objective truth in favor of subjectivity and relativism245.
• It posits that all knowledge and reality are socially constructed, and that there are no objective truths or transcendent realities245.
• Postmodernists argue that truth is not discovered but created, and that it varies from one individual or culture to another245.
• They emphasize the importance of individual experiences and perspectives, and they value diversity and plurality245.

In summary, while modernism seeks objective truths through reason and science, postmodernism embraces subjectivity and the idea that truth is a construct of individual or cultural beliefs

The mimetic theory of language is a concept that suggests language originated from our ability to mimic, or imitate, the world around us12. This theory is rooted in the idea that humans have a natural propensity for mimesis, which is an embodied, analogue, and primordial mode of representation12.

According to this theory, mimesis is a preadaptation for language and also a self-sufficient cognitive adaptation in its own right, which accounts for some of the major features of human cultural and cognitive life1. It includes three behavioral manifestations: rehearsal of skill, re-enactive mime, and non-linguistic gesture1.

• Rehearsal of skill involves the actor imagining and reproducing previous performances with a view to improving them1.
• Re-enactive mime involves reproducing patterns of action, usually of others, in the context of play or fantasy1.
• Non-linguistic gesture is where an action communicates an intention through resemblance1.

These mimetic acts are observable by others, making them a potential basis for a culturally accepted “mimetic” vernacular1. This enables members of a group to share knowledge, feelings, customs, skills, and goals, and to create group displays of emotions and intentions that are conventional and deliberate1.

While these types of shared representations may seem limited compared to language, they constitute a powerful means of creating culture and sharing custom, feeling, and intent1. This theory provides a unique perspective on the origins and development of language, emphasizing the role of imitation and embodied representation12.

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