Version 1
: Received: 30 July 2019 / Approved: 2 August 2019 / Online: 2 August 2019 (05:30:26 CEST)
How to cite:
MacDonald, N.B. Wittgenstein and Derrida on the Possibility of Meaning: Hierarchy or Non-Hierarchy, Simple or Non-simple Origin, Deferral or Non-Deferral. Preprints.org2019, 2019080016. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints201908.0016.v1
MacDonald, N.B. Wittgenstein and Derrida on the Possibility of Meaning: Hierarchy or Non-Hierarchy, Simple or Non-simple Origin, Deferral or Non-Deferral. Preprints.org 2019, 2019080016. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints201908.0016.v1
Cite as:
MacDonald, N.B. Wittgenstein and Derrida on the Possibility of Meaning: Hierarchy or Non-Hierarchy, Simple or Non-simple Origin, Deferral or Non-Deferral. Preprints.org2019, 2019080016. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints201908.0016.v1
MacDonald, N.B. Wittgenstein and Derrida on the Possibility of Meaning: Hierarchy or Non-Hierarchy, Simple or Non-simple Origin, Deferral or Non-Deferral. Preprints.org 2019, 2019080016. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints201908.0016.v1
Abstract
Meaning understood in terms of teachability and learnability is crucial to Wittgenstein’s later work. As regards the resolution of philosophical problems – and epistemological problems in particular - this approach seems to posit a hierarchy of meaning that excludes endless deferral. This is the basis of Wittgenstein’s attack on philosophical scepticism. Derrida’s approach to language seems to require both non-hierarchy and endless deferral. Consequently fundamental to his concept of origin is identity and difference simultaneously, irreducibly, non-simply. One question is whether it is possible for there to be a compromise between the two philosophers: a hierarchy of meaning that does not in principle exclude endless deferral.
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
