Of Grammatology

The final two chapters of the work consist of Derrida’s final arguments against Rousseau’s theories about the origin and development of language and the logocentric championing of writing over speech. In his Essay on the Origin of Languages, Rousseau outlines his theories about the three stages of the development of writing and how each stage deviates further and further from the natural center of speech. Rousseau believes that written languages from the South, which he suggests have a closer connection to the spoken word, take precedent above Northern languages, which emphasize consonant articulation. Often using Rousseau’s own examples and evidence, Derrida identifies where and how these theories collapse.

Derrida’s arguments in these two chapters epitomize the roles of exterior and interior in deconstructionist technique. Deconstruction challenges binaries. Accordingly, Derrida demonstrates how to destroy multiple binaries using their own logic. His technique for accomplishing this destruction is the application of the exterior to the interior. In a binary, one idea is elevated above the other. Another way of visualizing this higher-ranking idea is as the interior. At the center of the circle of life are the privileged concepts: nature, good, strength. Outside of this center point exists the multitude of lower-ranking alternatives: culture, evil, weakness. Derrida argues that by placing the exterior within the interior, one can understand that they are both part of the same thing and, in fact, indistinguishable from one another.

Derrida demonstrates this transference, for example, by breaking down Rousseau’s arguments about melody and harmony. Rousseau portrays melody as being within the interior because he views it as accomplishing something closer to a one-to-one ratio. That is, in his mind, melody imitates nature directly. A song mimics the tunes of birds or the wind rustling through the trees. Rousseau portrays harmonization, in contrast, as an abstraction of that melody, a frivolous supplement or ornamentation that distracts from the superior, natural focus. Rousseau was not the only person who saw the introduction of harmony into music as an indicator of the decline of music. The Catholic Church had a history of challenging the introduction of polyphony, associating it with secularism and condemning it as a distraction from the words of worship music. Songs that used clashing notes were especially aligned with evil.

Derrida, however, turns Rousseau’s logic in on itself, showing that harmony is also on the interior. Harmony, no more or less so than melody, is a fundamental part of nature. Derrida uses the same technique later when he examines the foundations of Rousseau’s arguments about the origin of language. Rousseau relies on a logocentric argument. He suggests that the written language is less authentic because it relies on a series of supplements. When discussing the origin of speech, however, Rousseau builds his theoretical framework on the idea that language is both an intrinsic part of humanity and a result of the need to communicate with others within a society. Derrida sees a contradiction. How could speech be both intrinsic (natural) and derived from a need to communicate (cultural)? Furthermore, Rousseau suggests that humans have an innate need to impress on the senses of others. One way humans do this is through motion, which is immediate. Rousseau argues that the immediacy of motion is proof of its authenticity. The other is speech. Derrida suggests that Rousseau is ignoring this space with regards to speech: “Language must traverse space, be obliged to be spaced, is not an accidental trait here but the mark of its origin” (253). Speech is never with the presence. Neither is it ever within the metaphysics of presence. Speech is always in the past.

Logocentrism emphasizes the metaphysics of presence. Rousseau’s arguments, like Saussure’s, are predicated on the idea that spoken language is a present act. However, in line with the theme The Rejection of Logocentrism, Derrida shows that even the spoken word lives within the past. He suggests that Rousseau repeatedly fails to acknowledge the role of space and time in the spoken word. Traditionally, Western philosophy has emphasized the importance of reality over appearance. Yet even though signifiers are only representations of reality, they still help humans understand and reach the core truth. Logocentrism argues that writing is more artificial than the spoken word; it is a series of abstractions that carry the reader further and further away from this core truth. In this theory, spoken language is connected to presence, or reality, while the written word is aligned with absence, or negation. The author is absent, so the written word is necessary. Derrida explains that the act of speaking the signifier is also a distancing act: it immediately detaches the speaker from the signifier itself. There is time between the thought and the signifier, and there is space between the speaker and the listener. Furthermore, both space and time contribute to The Instability of Meaning in both the written and spoken word. As soon as a signifier is uttered or written, it is impressed on the senses of others. The receivers’ unique perspectives and perceptions contribute to their own unique understanding of the original signified.