Différance
From Metapedia
Jacques Derrida argues that language that is constituted through Différance, a term that Derrida uses, meaning both: to differ and to defer. Thus, the signifier does not point to any concrete or essential meaning embodied in the signified; rather, meaning exists in a binary system of opposites and difference. For example a boy is a boy because he is not a girl. Furthermore, meaning is never fixed or complete; rather, meaning is, as Derrida notes, perpetually deferred.
Derrida's concept of "Différance" describes the notion of Ferdinand de Saussure, which is that the meaning of any word depends not on its "natural bond" with the real (that is, the word does not directly "stand in" for the real), but rather, on its association with other words to which it refers to but also from which it differs. This notion of referring to and differing from other words along a whole chain of significations describes the perpetual movements of meaning in deconstruction. It indicates the slippages of meaning inherent in language.
The word "Différance" is a neologism created from the French verb "différer," which means both 'to differ' and 'to defer.' By referring to both 'differing' and 'deferring' simultaneously, the term "Différance" is ambiguous. As such, it not only describes a linguistic function, but also performs it.
Derrida's term contests Hegelian dialectics, which sees difference as something to be mediated and overcome. For Hegel, difference results in the dialectical synthesis of two opposing terms into a new, different third term. Derrida rejected dialectical synthesis, however; to reduce difference in one, subsuming fusion was, for Derrida, to ignore each term's "many-ness" and each word's dispersed meanings. For this reason, Derrida introduced the term "Différance" - an alternative to unity and also to difference, which itself is marked by the pull to be unified and assimilated into one.
- Megan
