Presentation Reflection

My contribution to the group presentation included reading and understanding Derrida’s deconstruction principles, specifically those found in his “Dissemination”. Understanding deconstruction enough to present it to the class has been a very frustrating process for me. It seemed to me that Derrida’s writing is more of a demonstration of the instability of language rather than any concrete explanation of the phenomena. He plays with multiple metaphors such as “organism,” “embroidery,” and “game” (1697) to describe the complexity of language, which left me stranded to decode his meaning rather than absorb his purpose. Ultimately I had to look to other sources for reassurance that I was not going crazy, but that the ideas of deconstruction are quite metaphysical and difficult to define. J.M. Balkin from Yale Law School identifies various applicable uses of Derrida’s ideas in his essay on deconstruction, specifically in the field of law. Dr. Kristi Siegel’s website was also helpful in breaking down Derrida’s terms, such as “trace” and “differAnce”.

In order to demonstrate the principles of deconstruction, my portion of the presentation will be the active breaking down of a single sentence with the class’s participation. I have chosen the eighth amendment, largely because it has become clear to me that language and law share the same instability: they are both defined by principles that are not innate but structured by man, taught, and must be accepted by the whole in order to function. In addition, both language and law are in a constant flux, always needing to be defined, and can only be defined in terms of their own instability.

Looking at the eighth amendment, one could spend days breaking apart each word and discovering the various interpretations that might be rendered. In my presentation I will be looking at a few specific words within the phrase, identifying some of their various possible meanings, and revealing how the statement ultimately contradicts itself. Using this single phrase, I will also be able to exhibit Derrida’s idea of the web of language and his theory of the trace carried by each signifier.

Works Cited:

Deconstruction, in A Companion to the Philosophy of Law and Legal Theory, (D. Patterson, ed., Basil Blackwell, 1996).

Derrida, Jacques. “From Dissemination, From Plato’s Pharmacy.” The Norton Anthology ofTheory and Criticism. Ed, Vincent B. Leitch. 2^nd ed. W.W. Norton & Company Inc.: New York, 2001. 1697-1734. Print.

Siegel, Kristi. Introduction to Modern Literary Theory. Mount Mary College. Web. 30 July 2010.