I’m looking at ideas of the famous Algerian-French philosopher, Jacques Derrida, often described as a post-structuralist. His most famous idea is deconstruction, often associated with analyzing literary works. A text is presented as a coherent whole with a basic idea in the center. The text’s language is all about the central idea, and the assumption is that this idea has a fixed meaning.

The point of deconstruction is to disturb this coherent whole and challenge its hierarchy. The intent of deconstruction is discovery of what is hidden behind the elaborate plot to stage the central idea. It’s an attempt to subvert the dominant theme.

Deconstruction also means taking the text apart to understand its structure as it’s written and determining the meaning in several different ways by challenging the hierarchy put in focus by the author. Derrida believed that in language we always prefer hierarchies. We prefer good over bad, day over night, etc. Most often, this focus on hierarchies results in believing them to be the ultimate truth. We tend to think in terms of false dichotomies. It has to be “this” or “that.” If I don’t do “this,” I am “bad.”

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