deconstructive
Taking apart meanings
Deconstructive describes something that takes apart established structures, assumptions, or interpretations rather than building them up.
The term comes from deconstruction, the critical method associated with philosopher Jacques Derrida that examines how texts undermine their own claims to stable meaning.
A deconstructive reading of a novel might expose contradictions the author didn't intend.
More loosely, deconstructive describes any approach that dismantles rather than accepts: Her deconstructive take on traditional recipes strips dishes down to core elements.
Grammatology's French author
- poststructuralismPhilosophy questioning stable meaning
- signifierMeaning-bearing form
- signifiedExpressed meaning symbolically
- traceMinute remnant or pursue
dissemination · decentering · metaphysics · presence · absence · play · phallogocentrism
Assigned meaning
- textual analysisSystematic examination of writing
- close readingDetailed textual analysis
- hermeneuticsStudy of interpretation methods
- semioticsStudy of signs, symbols
discourse · meaning · indeterminacy · metanarrative · interplay · unraveling · interrogation · destabilizing
Weakening by covert means
- challengingHard to accomplish
- destabilizingCausing loss of equilibrium
- transgressiveViolating accepted boundaries
- radicalRoot-indicating symbol
iconoclastic · disruptive · provocative · unorthodox · avant-garde · rebellious · contrarian · dissenting
Derrida
Grammatology's French author
- poststructuralismPhilosophy questioning stable meaning
- signifierMeaning-bearing form
- signifiedExpressed meaning symbolically
trace · dissemination · decentering · metaphysics · presence · absence · play · phallogocentrism
interpretation
Assigned meaning
- textual analysisSystematic examination of writing
- close readingDetailed textual analysis
- hermeneuticsStudy of interpretation methods
semiotics · discourse · meaning · indeterminacy · metanarrative · interplay · unraveling · interrogation · destabilizing · questioning
undermining
Weakening by covert means
- challengingHard to accomplish
- destabilizingCausing loss of equilibrium
- transgressiveViolating accepted boundaries
radical · iconoclastic · disruptive · provocative · unorthodox · avant-garde · rebellious · contrarian · dissenting · nonconformist
- criticism typesdestructive, literary, art criticism, film criticism, music criticism
- philosophical termsSocratic, Kantian, Cartesian, Aristotelian, dialectical
deconstructiveconstructive
Promoting positive development
building · creative · generative · formative · integrative
deconstructiveaffirmative
Expressing agreement or consent
essentialist · stabilizing · hermeneutic · univocal · totalizing
deconstructivetraditional
Following long-held customs
conservative · orthodox · canonical · preservative · restorative