Poststructuralism: WTF? Derrida, Deconstruction and Poststructuralist Theory Explained

Summary

In this episode of 'What the, Theory?', Tom delves into poststructuralism, a theory that challenges the notion of language as a perfect communicator of thoughts. He explores its skepticism towards definitive interpretations of cultural texts and the pursuit of objective truth, given the biases inherent in language. Tom discusses key poststructuralist ideas through the lens of Roland Barthes' 'The Death of the Author' and Jacques Derrida's deconstruction, emphasizing the theory's impact on understanding and interpreting cultural narratives.

Takeaways

• 📚 Poststructuralism argues that language and other communicative systems often misrepresent our thoughts and encourage alternative interpretations.
• 🔍 It questions whether it's possible to achieve a definitive interpretation of cultural texts and if we can ever arrive at objective truth due to inherent biases in language.
• 📖 Structuralism, based on the work of Ferdinand de Saussure, views culture as a language system with shared conventions and tropes.
• 🖋️ Poststructuralism critiques structuralism by emphasizing the flaws and biases in language, suggesting that communication often fails to convey the intended meaning.
• 📝 Roland Barthes' 'The Death of the Author' questions the focus on authorial intent and argues for the celebration of multiple interpretations of texts.
• 🧐 Jacques Derrida's concept of 'deconstruction' explores the hidden meanings and binary oppositions within texts, suggesting that no text has a single, stable meaning.
• 🌍 Poststructuralism considers the ideological biases in language, including race, gender, and class, and how these shape our understanding of the world.
• 🔍 Derrida's analysis of apartheid in 'Racism's Last Word' highlights the hidden European roots of South African racism, challenging the binary of 'here' (non-racist Europe) and 'there' (racist South Africa).
• 🎥 Films like 'Get Out' use poststructuralist techniques to critique cultural binaries and reveal the complicity of seemingly anti-racist individuals in systemic racism.
• 📘 Poststructuralism has significant implications for fields like feminist studies, as seen in Judith Butler's 'Gender Trouble', which deconstructs gender binaries sustained by language and society.

Q & A

What is poststructuralism's central thesis?

Poststructuralism's central thesis is that language and other communicative systems are imperfect at expressing thoughts and ideas, often leading to misinterpretations and alternative meanings. It questions the possibility of arriving at a definitive interpretation of cultural texts or an objective truth.

How does poststructuralism differ from structuralism?

While structuralism focuses on systematic inquiry into cultural texts, treating them as part of a larger language system, poststructuralism questions the imperfections of language and its potential biases, asking whether language can truly convey an author’s intended meaning and exploring multiple interpretations of a text.

What is the significance of Roland Barthes' essay 'The Death of the Author' in poststructuralism?

'The Death of the Author' argues that focusing on an author's intended meaning is futile because language is imperfect. Barthes suggests that readers should explore the multiple meanings a text can generate, rather than trying to uncover a definitive meaning based on the author's intent.

What is deconstruction, and how does it relate to poststructuralism?

Deconstruction, a method developed by Jacques Derrida, seeks to expose the hidden meanings and contradictions within a text, particularly by questioning binary oppositions (e.g., high/low). It aligns with poststructuralism by showing that no text can have a stable, final meaning due to the inherent flaws and biases in language.

What does Derrida mean by 'there is nothing outside the text'?

Derrida's phrase 'there is nothing outside the text' suggests that a text's meaning is influenced by what is absent or implied as much as by what is present. He emphasizes that a text cannot be separated from the context in which it is created and interpreted.

How does poststructuralism challenge the idea of objective truth?

Poststructuralism challenges the notion of objective truth by arguing that language, the medium through which we understand the world, is flawed and shaped by biases related to race, gender, and class. Therefore, any conclusions we draw through language are inherently biased and subjective.

How does Get Out exemplify poststructuralist themes?

Get Out exemplifies poststructuralist themes by subverting racial binaries in horror films and critiquing liberal attitudes toward race. It challenges the notion that white characters’ love for black culture exempts them from complicity in systemic racism, questioning binary views of 'good' and 'bad' racism.

Why does poststructuralism reject the pursuit of a definitive interpretation of a text?

Poststructuralism rejects the pursuit of a definitive interpretation because it argues that texts are open to multiple meanings, and language itself is an unreliable and biased tool for communication. It encourages readers to explore diverse interpretations rather than seeking a single 'correct' meaning.

How has poststructuralism influenced feminist studies?

Poststructuralism has influenced feminist studies by challenging linguistic and societal binaries, such as the division between men and women. Judith Butler, for example, uses poststructuralist ideas to critique the gender binary and explore how language enforces normative ideas of masculinity and femininity.

What does Derrida mean by 'the trace' in deconstruction?

In deconstruction, 'the trace' refers to the presence of an opposing concept that is implicitly invoked whenever a term is used. For example, the word 'high' carries the trace of 'low,' meaning that the concept of 'low' is always present in the background when discussing 'high.'

Outlines

00:00

🎥 Introduction to the Channel and Poststructuralism

Tom welcomes viewers to the channel and introduces the episode's topic: poststructuralism. He explains that poststructuralism challenges the idea that language and other communicative systems perfectly convey thoughts. Instead, it argues that communication often leads to misrepresentation and multiple interpretations. This episode will explore the implications of this idea for analyzing cultural texts and whether we can ever reach an objective truth. Tom also encourages engagement through comments and invites viewers to support him on Patreon.

05:02

📚 Structuralism vs. Poststructuralism

Poststructuralism builds on and critiques structuralism, which views cultural texts as part of a larger system of meaning, much like language. Structuralists analyze texts based on common tropes and conventions, but they largely accept language as the main tool for understanding culture. Poststructuralism, however, goes a step further, questioning the biases inherent in language itself. It suggests that language, being a human creation, may carry flaws and ideological biases around race, gender, and class.

10:05

💬 Imperfections in Language and Communication

Poststructuralism highlights how language often fails to perfectly convey meaning, leading to miscommunication. Peter Barry's example illustrates how everyday communication can betray our intentions, leaving room for alternative interpretations. Roland Barthes' 'The Death of the Author' is discussed, emphasizing that poststructuralism shifts focus away from the author's intended meaning and instead celebrates the multiple interpretations a text can invite. This perspective challenges traditional criticism and gives the reader or critic more agency in creating meaning.

15:08

📖 Deconstruction and Hidden Meanings in Texts

Jacques Derrida's concept of deconstruction is introduced, focusing on how texts inherently contain contradictions and hidden meanings. Derrida argues that words carry traces of their opposites, creating layers of meaning that go beyond the surface. This method of analysis questions binary oppositions and reveals the underlying biases in texts. Derrida’s essay on apartheid is discussed as an example of deconstruction in action, where European critiques of racism unintentionally reveal their own complicity in racial issues.

20:10

🎬 Cultural Texts and Social Binaries

The example of the film 'Get Out' is used to show how poststructuralism can deconstruct cultural texts. The film challenges the binary racial tropes in horror films and critiques how white liberals present themselves as anti-racist while benefiting from systemic inequalities. Poststructuralism's focus on how language and culture sustain binaries extends to feminist studies, where Judith Butler's work on gender binaries is highlighted. This theory's questioning of language's flaws leads to broad societal implications, encouraging a deconstruction of established norms.

📝 Conclusion: The Implications of Poststructuralism

Tom wraps up by reflecting on the broader implications of poststructuralism. If language is inherently flawed, as poststructuralists argue, then the conclusions we draw from it are also flawed and biased. He thanks viewers for watching, acknowledges his top Patreon supporters, and encourages viewers to engage further by liking or sharing the video. The importance of questioning objective truths in a world mediated by imperfect language is underscored as a central theme of poststructuralism.

Keywords

💡Poststructuralism

Poststructuralism is a theoretical approach that emerged in the 1960s as a response to structuralism. It challenges the idea that language and other communicative systems can perfectly express thoughts and ideas, suggesting instead that they are prone to misinterpretation. In the video, poststructuralism is discussed as a way of analyzing cultural texts that questions the possibility of definitive interpretations and the existence of objective truth, given the inherent biases in language.

💡Structuralism

Structuralism is a theoretical approach that emphasizes the systematic nature of cultural texts and human culture as a whole, viewing them as language systems. It draws on the work of Ferdinand de Saussure and focuses on tropes and conventions prevalent in culture. In the script, structuralism is contrasted with poststructuralism, highlighting its prioritization of systematic inquiry into cultural texts.

💡Language

Language, in the context of the video, is not only a system of communication but also a medium that can misrepresent thoughts and ideas. Poststructuralism posits that language is imperfect and subject to misinterpretation, which has implications for the analysis of cultural texts and the pursuit of objective truth. The video uses the imperfections of language to explore the limitations of communication and understanding.

💡Cultural Texts

Cultural texts encompass a wide range of media, including literature, film, and visual arts. The video discusses how poststructuralism encourages a shift in focus from the author's intent to the multiple interpretations that can arise from engaging with these texts. It challenges the idea of a single, definitive interpretation of a cultural text.

💡Misrepresentation

Misrepresentation refers to the distortion or inaccurate portrayal of thoughts, ideas, or cultural texts. The video script uses the concept of misrepresentation to illustrate how language and communication systems can lead to alternative interpretations, which is a central concern of poststructuralism.

💡Objective Truth

Objective truth is the concept of truth that is independent of perspective and is universally valid. Poststructuralism questions the possibility of objective truth, suggesting that language and its inherent biases may shape our understanding of the world in ways that prevent a completely objective perspective. The video explores this idea in relation to societal biases and the role of language in constructing our reality.

💡Interpretation

Interpretation, in the video, is presented as an inherently subjective process that can lead to multiple meanings for cultural texts. Poststructuralism emphasizes the variability of interpretation and the reader's role in producing potential meanings, rather than seeking a single, definitive meaning.

💡Deconstruction

Deconstruction is a methodology developed by Jacques Derrida that seeks to uncover hidden meanings and challenge the binaries of meaning within a text. The video uses deconstruction as a tool to analyze cultural texts and critique the assumptions underlying them, such as the binary between 'here' and 'over there' in discussions of racism.

💡Binaries

Binaries are pairs of contrasting concepts or categories that are often presented as opposites. The video discusses how language and cultural texts can perpetuate binaries, such as those based on race or gender, which can reinforce societal inequalities and limit our understanding of complex issues.

💡Roland Barthes

Roland Barthes was a French literary theorist whose work, particularly his essay 'The Death of the Author,' is central to poststructuralist thought. The video references Barthes' argument that the author's intent is not the sole or most important aspect of a text, and that meaning is instead produced by the reader through interpretation.

💡Jacques Derrida

Jacques Derrida was a key figure in poststructuralism, known for his concept of deconstruction. The video mentions Derrida's assertion that 'there is nothing outside the text,' suggesting that the meaning of a text is not solely determined by external factors but is also influenced by what is absent or implicit within the text itself.

Highlights

Poststructuralism challenges the idea that language perfectly represents our thoughts and ideas.

Communication systems like language can misrepresent our intended messages.

The theory questions the possibility of definitive interpretations of cultural texts.

Poststructuralism explores whether objective truth can be achieved through language.

The theory examines the influence of implicit biases in language on our worldview.

Poststructuralism is related to and expands upon structuralism, focusing on the imperfections of language.

Structuralism views culture as a language system with shared conventions and tropes.

Poststructuralism considers language's flaws and biases similar to other human creations.

Language's imperfections lead to anxiety about miscommunication.

Poststructuralism is not concerned with the author's original intent but with the text's multiple interpretations.

Roland Barthes' 'The Death of the Author' is a key text that questions the author's authority over a text's meaning.

Poststructuralism celebrates the multiple meanings that a text can offer.

Jacques Derrida's concept of 'il n'y a pas de hors-texte' emphasizes the text's self-containment and context.

Derrida's deconstruction methodology reveals hidden meanings and challenges binary oppositions in texts.

Poststructuralism critiques the binaries of race, gender, and class present in language and cultural texts.

The theory has significant implications for societal concepts like reason, truth, and scholarship.

Poststructuralism encourages questioning the objectivity of conclusions reached through language.

Transcripts

Hi, my name's Tom. Welcome back to my channel and to another episode of What the

Theory, my ongoing series in which I provide accessible introductions to key

theories in cultural studies and the wider humanities. Today, we're looking at

poststructuralism. Poststructuralism's central thesis is that language (and all

other forms of communicative system such as images and video) are less perfect at

expressing our thoughts and ideas than we might initially want to think they

are. Rather than replicating our thoughts in the mind of a reader or viewer

perfectly, most modes of communication are prone to misrepresenting us or to

encouraging alternative interpretations of what we were trying to express when

we first said, wrote or recorded something. Poststructuralism asks what

this means for the practice of analyzing cultural texts and questions whether it

is ever possible to arrive at a definitive interpretation of a given

film, book or other cultural text. Beyond this, it also asks whether, in a society

in which much of our thinking about the world is done through language, it is

ever possible to arrive at objective truth, or whether the implicit biases

surrounding race, gender and other concepts present in our linguistic and

other communicative systems might shape our understanding of the world too.

Before we get going, if you have any thoughts or questions as we go along

then please do feel free to pop those down below in the comments and, if you're

new around here and this seems like your kind of thing, please do consider

subscribing and hitting that notification bell. Finally, if you really

like what I do and would like to support me to make more videos, then I would be

so grateful if you would check out my patreon page at patreon.com/tomnicholas.

With that out of the way, however, let's crack on with

Poststructuralism: What the Theory?

The first thing one likely notices about poststructuralism

is that that, as with postmodernism or postcolonialism, the term itself implies a

relationship with something called "structuralism". Now, if you'd like a

complete overview of structuralism itself then I'd recommend checking out

my video dedicated to that very topic. For today's purposes, however, it's enough

to know that structuralism refers to a way of thinking about cultural texts

which prioritizes systematic inquiry. Drawing on the work of the Swiss

linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, it asks us to view different forms of culture such

as literature, film, theatre, visual arts and also culture in the all-encompassing

sense as a kind of language system. It thus asks us to consider not only how an

individual book, film, performance or artwork infers meaning on its own terms

but also its reliance upon tropes and conventions prevalent throughout the

wider "language" of human culture. A structuralist analysis of Jordan Peele's

Get Out, for instance, might focus on how it employs or subverts certain narrative

devices present in other films. Does it, as Robert McKee would likely suggest,

adhere to the "language" or perhaps "grammar" of Hollywood storytelling in

having an 'inciting incident', a moment of 'crisis', a 'climax' and a 'resolution'?

Furthermore, how does it employ or subvert the language of the wider horror

genre? Peele himself has been fairly open about borrowing certain conventions from

The Shining, Halloween and North by Northwest. Structuralism foregrounds the

presence of such shared conventions and tropes across multiple texts in order to

gain a better understanding of the language of individual cultural forms,

and perhaps human culture in its entirety. Neither narrative structure

nor genre, however, are natural phenomena. Both are human creations. And so, too, is

language itself. Structuralist analysis is generally aware of this fact yet mostly

decides not to question it too much, it holds that language (or, again, the

"language" of film or literature etc) is all we have so we're best off

just compiling the best understanding of it we can. Poststructuralism, however,

does go that step further in encouraging us to consider whether the fact that

language is a human creation might mean that, like any other human invention, it

might have certain flaws and biases. It encourages us to ask whether language

(and, again, other forms of communication) might sometimes fail us and communicate

something altogether different than what we initially intended. Furthermore, it

asks us to consider whether those languages might be subject to many of

the same ideological biases of, for example, gender, race and class as other

human institutions. Let's start with the notion that language might be imperfect.

Peter Barry forwards an evocative example of how we might have experienced

this in his book Beginning Theory in which he asks us to 'think of any

slightly less straightforward language situation like writing to your bank,

writing an essay, striking up a friendship with a stranger at a party, or sending a

letter of condolence. In these cases, and many more, there is an almost universally

felt anxiety that the language will express things we hadn't intended, or

convey the wrong impression or betray our ignorance, callousness or confusion.

Even when we use a phrase like "if you see what I mean" or "in a manner of

speaking" there is the same underlying sense that

we are not really in control of the linguistic system'. Though, for the most

part, language seems like a pretty good system of communicating, then, it as

often leads to miscommunication as it does to a perfect articulation of the

thing we wanted to express. Furthermore, if you've ever found yourself trying to

soothe over a personal or professional relationship after having had a letter,

text or answerphone message interpreted differently to how it was

intended, you'll likely have found yourself wrestling with the fact that

language is a closed system and thus all you have at your disposal to explain

your previous words is more words which are themselves open

to alternate interpretations. Such an anxiety about the imperfect nature of

language is at the core of poststructuralism. And, just as did

structuralism, it extends this view to the "languages" of art and culture. Perhaps

the most famous text which develops this notion is Roland Barthes' 1967 essay The

Death of the Author in which he questions previous scholars' obsession

with analyzing cultural texts with the goal of identifying what it was the

author intended it to mean. In such approaches, Barthes argues, 'the explanation

of a work is always sought in the man or woman who produced it, as if it were

always in the end, through the more or less transparent allegory of the fiction,

the voice of a single person, the author, "confiding" in us'. Yet, if language is an

imperfect communicator, Barthes continues by asking, is it ever possible to arrive

at an understanding of a text that is 100% accurate to that intended by the

author? Furthermore, he asks, even if we could, would that be the most useful goal

to aim for? For, most people who encounter a given text likely do not come to it

with an extended knowledge of the author's life and artistic priorities.

Thus, to try to look through the text to see the intentions of the author behind

it ultimately involves ignoring the rich, meaningful possibilities of the text

itself. Poststructuralism, then, is almost entirely disinterested in what an author

might have originally intended a text to mean. In fact, it's sceptical that any

text has any objective or "final" meaning at all but, instead, is overflowing with

possible interpretations. Therefore, as Terry Eagleton argues, 'the

reader or critic shifts from the role of consumer to that of producer [of

potential meanings of a text]. It is not exactly as though "anything goes" in

interpretation, for Barthes is careful to remark that the work cannot be got to

mean anything at all; but literature is now less an object to which criticism

must conform that a free space in which it can sport'.

Poststructuralism encourages us not to pursue some kind of

definitive meaning but to celebrate the many and multiple meanings that a given

book, film, painting or other form of cultural text might invite. Now, in so

doing, poststructuralism is often accused of failing to show enough

deference to the text itself and as positioning the critic or scholar or

reader (you or I) as more important than the person or people who sweated to create

that text in the first place. And there are no doubt examples of individuals

doing both of these things. Nevertheless, a more sympathetic view would be that

poststructuralism in fact returns our attention, which previously might have

been obsessed with the life and opinions of the author behind the text, to the

text in front of us itself and embraces the surface of meaning present within it.

This celebration of the text itself is perhaps best articulated by Jacques

Derrida who famously declared in his 1967 book Of Grammatology that "il n'y

a pas de hors-texte" which, though difficult to translate directly, translates roughly as

either "there is nothing outside the text" or "there is no outside-text". In perhaps a

further vindication of the imperfections of language, there exists a great deal of

scholarly discussion surrounding what Derrida actually meant by this sentence

fragment. Even Michel Foucault has been accused of misinterpreting Derrida on

this statement. Does he mean that, when critiquing a given book, film or artwork,

that we should take into account nothing but the text in front of us?

Or does he, in fact, mean that there is "nothing outside the text" in the sense

that the text in front of us subsumes everything around it and thus

we should take into account all possible contexts that might inform the

interpretation of it? Today, the consensus generally swings towards the latter

understanding. For Derrida was interested in how the

meaning a given text infers might be as reliant upon what

is absent from it as much as what is present. See, as we explored in my video

on structuralism, individual words only come to mean a certain thing because

they do not mean something else. The term "high", for instance,

doesn't mean all that much until we have the opposite concept, "low", to compare it

to. Derrida thus argued that any use of a

given term always carries with it the "trace" of its opposite. In short, wherever

the word "high" is used in a piece of writing, the concept "low" is always

implicitly there too, lurking in the background. And this has implications not

only for individual words but for an entire text. For, although a given book,

film etc might be presented as having a single, unquestionable meaning, the

presence of countless "traces" behind every single term or concept invoked

within it means that there are always alternate possible interpretations

hiding there waiting to be discovered Derrida thus developed a methodology

for textual analysis called deconstruction whic,h as Jack Reynolds

explains, 'contends that in any text, there are inevitably points of equivocation

and "undecidability" that betray any stable meaning that an author might seek

to impose upon his or her text. The process of writing always reveals that

which has been suppressed, covers over that which has been disclosed, and more

generally breaches the very oppositions that are thought to sustain it'.

Deconstruction does not necessarily contend, then, again, that a text can

mean anything at all. Instead, it seeks to draw out the hidden meanings beneath its

surface and, in particular, to question the binaries of meaning which a less

critical reading of that text might ignore. Although not focused on an

individual cultural text, in looking to explain how deconstruction can be

applied in practice, I'd like to take a look here at Derrida's 1985 essay

Racism's Last Word in which he seeks to critique

"Western" (and in particular European) discourses on apartheid, the white

supremacist regime which ruled over South Africa until 1994. Early on,

Derrida comments that 'no tongue has ever translated this name [apartheid]—as if all

the languages of the world were defending themselves, shutting their

mouths against a sinister incorporation of the thing by means of the word'. And,

continuing this line of thought, Derrida foregrounds the manner in which

European governments' condemnations of apartheid, though welcomed in pursuit of

ending the repressive regime, often sought to present racism as something

which always happened "over there". And a binary is thus drawn between the non

racist nations of Europe, "here", and the barbarous apartheid regime, "over there".

Yet, argues Derrida, 'the judicial simulacrum and the political theatre of

this state racism would have no meaning and would have had no chance outside of

a European "discourse" on the concept of race'. In short, the underlying racist

belief system which gave birth to apartheid, Derrida contends, was a

European invention, exported to South Africa through settler colonialism. Derrida

sees that the invocation of the "over there" of South Africa carries with it

the trace of "here", Europe. And, by following that trace, he identifies an

interpretation of apartheid which European governments' discourses on the

topic were actively trying to seclude and ultimately contests that the

underlying binary which suggests that racism is something which only happens

"over there" is false. Cultural texts themselves can engage in such an act of

deconstruction too. To return to the example of Get Out, the film regularly

seeks to foreground the reliance of the horror genre on binaries of race. The

author Zadie Smith, for example, has highlighted the manner in which the film

subverts the tendency of horror films to present white people as inherently innocent

and black people inherently threatening. Get Out, she argues, 'flips the script,

offering a compendium of black fears about white folk'. More than this, however,

the film critiques the manner in which many rich white liberals seek to present

their love of black culture as a way of assuring the world that they are in some

way anti-racist. Smith argues that 'in place of the old disgust, a new kind of

cannibalism. The white people in Get Out want to get inside the black experience.

They want to wear it like a skin and walk around in it'. Blackness, to the white

characters in the film, is merely an aesthetic and so, too, is their politics.

For while they might detest blatant, interpersonal racism, or the police's hostile

treatment of black people, they are quite clearly happy to benefit from deep,

structural racial inequalities. The white characters in the film seek to present

the fact that they like basketball, for instance, as a way of creating a binary

between them and those, like the police officer towards the beginning of the

film, who engage in explicit, interpersonal racism. Yet, pointing to

other ways in which those characters are complicit in racist systems, Get Out

questions how meaningful that binary really is. Both Racism's Last Word and

Get Out are useful examples here because they point to the somewhat larger

implications of the poststructuralist observation that language is highly

flawed. For, alongside not always successfully expressing the meanings we

intended, the foregrounding of language as a human creation asks us to consider

whether it might be open to the same biases of race, gender, class (to name but

a few) as other human institutions. Think of the use of the term "man" to describe

all of humanity for example, or the use of the suffix "ess" in "actress", "waitress" and

"princess". Not only do such terms create a clear binary between

men and women as two distinct and uniform categories of people, even when

doing the exact same job, but the application of the root term (say, actor)

to men and the adjusted term (actress) to women clearly presents men as a kind of

norm and women as a sort of deviation. And, to some, this might seem like a

trivial observation. Yet, for the most part, language is the medium through

which we think and talk about the world and so a binary in language helps to

sustain a binary (and an unequal binary at that) in our way of thinking about a

certain topic. Poststructuralism desired intension to foreground and

deconstruct such binaries has led to it being a key influence in, for example,

feminist studies. In her 1990 book Gender Trouble (which I plan to discuss in a

future video), for instance, Judith Butler draws on the work of Derrida and others

to consider how a binary between men and women sustained by language but also by

many other aspects of our society encourages us to conform to hegemonic

modes of masculinity or femininity before encouraging us to deconstruct

this binary entirely. Where poststructuralism begins with the

fairly basic proposition that language is a flawed means of communication, then,

it comes to have fairly large implications for human society. For its core

methodology, deconstruction, can not only be used to critique individual cultural

texts but also far-reaching concepts that have a huge sway on our society.

When the University of Cambridge considered awarding Jacques Derrida an

honorary degree in 1992, a group of 19 academics wrote an open letter advising

against the move and accusing Derrida of, among other things, 'attacking the

values of reason, truth and scholarship'. This was meant as an insult. Yet one

wonders whether Derrida might have quite liked such a description of his

overall project and whether it might serve as a useful articulation of the

goal of poststructuralism as a whole. For, in a society in which language is

the medium through which we reach consensus on what counts as "reason", "truth"

and "scholarship", poststructuralism ultimately does ask us to question

whether such things can ever be objectively decided upon once and for

all. For, if language is as flawed as the poststructuralists suggest, then the

conclusions we reach through it will always be similarly flawed and biased.

Thank you very much for watching this video, I hope it's given you a bit of an

insight into poststructuralism. And thanks as always to my top patrons: Ash,

Michael V Brown and J Fraser Cartwright. If you would like to join

them in supporting what I do here, and get your hands on copies of the scripts

to these videos, then you can check out my Patreon page at patreon.com/tomnicholas.

Other than that, a like on this video is always much appreciated

or sharing it somewhere where you think other people might find it useful. With

that out of the way however, thank you so much for watching once again and have a

great week!