Editing Logocentrism (section)

== Derrida ==
French philosopher [[Jacques Derrida]] (1930–2004) in his book ''[[Of Grammatology]]'' responds in depth to what he believes is Saussure's logocentric argument. Derrida deconstructs the apparent inner, phonological system of language, stating in Chapter 2, ''Linguistics and Grammatology'', that in fact and for reasons of essence Saussure's representative determination is "...an ideal explicitly directing a functioning which...is never completely phonetic".<ref>(Derrida, p. 30)</ref> The idea that writing might function other than phonetically and also as more than merely a representative delineation of speech allows an absolute concept of logos to end in what Derrida describes as infinitist metaphysics.<ref>(Derrida, p. 71)</ref> The difference in presence can never actually be reduced, as was the logocentric project; instead, the chain of signification becomes the trace of presence-absence.<ref>(Derrida, p. 71)</ref>

{{quote|That the signified is originarily and essentially (and not only for a finite and created spirit) trace, that it is always already in the position of the signifier, is the apparently innocent proposition within which the metaphysics of the logos, of presence and consciousness, must reflect upon writing as its death and its resource.<ref>(Derrida, p. 73)</ref>}}