Of Grammatology

Of Grammatology by French philosopher Jacques Derrida introduced the world to deconstructionism. Derrida believed that the world had committed itself to binary oppositions and that words were only understood by their connection to their inverse. Deconstruction challenges these binary oppositions and the emphasis that is often placed on one idea over another. In Of Grammatology, Derrida uses deconstruction to challenge the binaries of speaking and writing, and he uses the arguments that privilege speaking over writing to dismantle this logic from within. The philosopher reveals how each part of a binary is dependent on the other and that each can be used to disassemble, or deconstruct, the other. Deconstruction is an important application for scholars and philosophers, because it challenges accepted thought and reveals the problems with classical, binary logic. Derrida continues to be an influential and controversial figure in the history of philosophy.

This guide utilizes the 2016 Fortieth Anniversary Edition from Johns Hopkins University Press, translated by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak.

Content Warning: In his examination of language, Derrida utilizes examples from the works of Rousseau and Lévi-Strauss. It is important to note that their work uses outdated and racist terms when comparing the ideologies and practices of Western society to other cultures.