Flipped Learning Activity: Derrida and Deconstruction

This blog is part of flipped leaning activity,  assigned by Dr. Dilip Barad sir makes classroom time more interactive and meaningful. It promotes student engagement, critical thinking, and self-paced learning. Here is the king of Activity 👉🏻 Click here

What we explore ? 

Video 1 

Analysis

• Derrida believes no term—philosophical or literary—can be fully and finally defined.
• "Deconstruction" itself resists fixed definition, just like all meaning in language.
• This creates difficulty for scholars and students who seek clear-cut meanings.
• Deconstruction is not a negative or destructive activity.
• It is a deep inquiry into the foundations of thought systems—how they are built and where they break.
• Derrida was inspired by Heidegger’s idea of “Destruction,” which means unpacking traditional concepts, not destroying them.
• The goal is to transform the way we think, not to tear ideas down blindly.
• Deconstruction can happen on its own.
• The same structures that give rise to meaning (like binary oppositions) also contain contradictions.
• These contradictions lead to the system breaking down from within.
• The concept of "différance" (to differ + to defer) explains how meaning is always delayed and built on differences—so the system undoes itself naturally.

Question & Answer

1.1. • Why is it difficult to define Deconstruction?

Deconstruction is hard to define because Derrida himself says that no concept can be fully or finally defined. Just like other complex ideas in philosophy, deconstruction keeps questioning itself. It doesn’t give a fixed meaning—so we can't explain it in one clear, simple sentence.

1.2. • Is Deconstruction a negative term?

No, deconstruction is not negative. It doesn’t mean destroying something. It's about inquiry the foundation. 

1.3. • How does Deconstruction happen on its own?

Deconstruction happens on its own because every system of thought is built on opposites (like good/evil, male/female).Derrida says the same thing that builds a system also brings out its cracks and limits. That’s how it starts deconstructing from inside.

Video 2

Analysis 

Deconstruction is not an act of destruction but a process that happens on its own when we deeply examine a system—it collapses under its own contradictions. Influenced by Heidegger’s idea of “Destruction,” Derrida developed “Deconstruction” to question how meaning and truth are built. He showed that Western philosophy relies on unstable binary oppositions (like presence/absence, reason/emotion) , and meanings constantly shift instead of staying fixed. Heidegger’s focus on “Being” and the limits of metaphysics shaped Derrida’s thinking deeply. Deconstruction reveals that truth is never final and challenges the very foundations of how we think and understand the world.

Question & Answer

2.1. • The influence of Heidegger on Derrida

Heidegger's idea of "Destruction" inspired Derrida. He took it further and called it "Deconstruction"—a way to question deep ideas by looking at how they are built.

2.2. • Derridean rethinking of the foundations of Western philosophy

Derrida said Western philosophy is built on opposites (like true/false), but these opposites are shaky. He showed that meaning is never fixed, so we must keep questioning it.

Video 3

Analysis

Ferdinand de Saussure argued that the relationship between a word and its meaning is arbitrary—there’s no natural link, only social convention. Derrida takes this further by saying that meaning is not a fixed idea in the mind, but always leads to another word, creating an infinite chain of signifiers. This challenges the idea that meaning is stable. He also explores Heidegger's concept of the "metaphysics of presence", where being is equated with presence, especially in language (e.g., using "is" to show existence). Derrida criticizes how Western philosophy relies on binary oppositions (like man/woman, light/dark, good/evil), where the first term is always privileged. This results in logocentrism—a system that favors presence and speech as truth—and phallocentrism, where male-centered language dominates. He shows that these hierarchies are built into language itself, and deconstruction exposes and questions these hidden biases.

Question & Answer

3.1. • Ferdinand de Saussureian concept of language (that meaning is arbitrary, relational, constitutive)

Saussure says that the connection between a word and its meaning is not natural but based on social convention. For example, the word “sister” doesn’t naturally relate to a person—it’s society that agrees to link the word with the meaning. This idea is called arbitrariness.

3.2. • How Derrida deconstructs the idea of arbitrariness?

Derrida says meaning isn’t fixed.

One word leads to another, so meaning keeps shifting.

There is no final or true meaning.

3.3. • Concept of metaphysics of presence

Western thought prefers what is present and visible.It treats absence or difference as less.Derrida questions this unfair preference in language and ideas.

Video 4

Analysis

Derrida’s concept of Différance is a key idea in deconstruction. It combines two meanings: “to differ” (as in to distinguish between things) and “to defer” (to postpone meaning). He shows this using a dictionary example—when we look up a word like interest, we only get other words in return. One word leads to another endlessly, meaning is never final, only postponed.

This endless chain shows that meaning is not in the mind, but always part of a system of signifiers. Meaning happens through differences between words—not fixed definitions. This undermines the idea of a "transcendental signified", or some ultimate meaning outside language, which is part of metaphysics of presence.

Derrida spells Différance with an “a” (not “e”) to highlight that this concept can only be read, not heard—challenging the Western privileging of speech over writing, known as phonocentrism. This is tied to logocentrism, the belief that spoken language holds true meaning. Différance challenges both, by showing how language depends on absence as much as presence, and that writing can be just as foundational as speech.

Question & Answer

4.1. • Derridean concept of DifferAnce

Différance is Derrida’s idea that meaning is never fixed. A word doesn’t have one final meaning—it always depends on other words. So, meaning is always changing and unfinished.

4.2. • Infinite play of meaning

When you look up a word, it leads to other words, and those lead to more words. This never ends. Meaning keeps shifting, so you never reach a final answer. This is called the infinite play of meaning.

4.3. • DIfferAnce = to differ + to defer

To differ means a word gets meaning by being different from others.

To defer means meaning is always delayed or postponed.

Derrida combines both ideas in the word différance which shows how meaning is both based on difference and never fully present.

Video 5 

Analysis

This statement is central to Derrida’s deconstruction and appears in his essay “Structure, Sign, and Play”.

It means that language cannot escape critique, because language itself carries the seeds of contradiction and instability.

Derrida critiques Structuralism (like that of Lévi-Strauss), which tried to be scientific and anti-metaphysical, but ironically relies on the same metaphysical assumptions it critiques (like binary thinking and fixed meaning).

Just as Nietzsche and Heidegger criticized metaphysics but still used its structure, structuralism too falls into what it opposes.

This happens because language is never neutral – it carries historical, philosophical assumptions, and meaning in language is always deferred (postponed) (as per Derrida’s concept of Différance).

Therefore, any critique using language also brings with it the flaws of language.

So, deconstruction is always “auto-critical”—it critiques not only the system but also itself.

Philosophy can’t get outside of tradition because it uses the same language-tradition it wants to critique.

Deconstruction reveals the blind spots of all systems, showing that ultimate truth or meaning is impossible within language.

Question & Answer

5.1. • Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences

Derrida says that structures are based on a center, but this center is not stable. Meaning always shifts, so there is no fixed truth. This marks the start of poststructuralism.

5.2. • Explain: "Language bears within itself the necessity of its own critique."

Language is full of gaps and delays in meaning. So, it always opens itself to questioning. Even criticism uses the same language it questions—so no critique is ever complete.

Video 6

Analysis

The Yale School of Deconstruction, active in the 1970s, introduced Jacques Derrida’s deconstructive ideas into American literary criticism. Led by figures like Paul de Man, J. Hillis Miller, Harold Bloom, and Geoffrey Hartman, it emphasized that language is figurative and unreliable, filled with metaphors and symbols that prevent stable meaning.

They challenged aesthetic and historical readings, arguing that beauty and truth in literature are illusions created by language’s instability. A major idea was the undecidability of meaning—texts allow multiple interpretations with no final truth, encouraging a “free play” of meaning.

They also reinterpreted Romantic poetry, especially through Paul de Man, highlighting allegory and irony over metaphor, and revealing contradictions within the poems.

In short, the Yale School argued that literature resists fixed meaning, and language always defers truth, making deconstruction a powerful literary method.

Question & Answer

6.1. • The Yale School: the hub of the practitioners of Deconstruction in the literary theories

In the 1970s, Yale University became the center for literary deconstruction in America.

Thinkers like Paul de Man, J. Hillis Miller, Harold Bloom, and Geoffrey Hartman helped bring Derrida’s ideas from philosophy into literary theory, making deconstruction popular—and controversial.

6.2. • The characteristics of the Yale School of Deconstruction

Focus on figurative language: Literature is full of metaphors and symbols, so meaning is never clear or fixed.

Challenges to aesthetic and historical readings: Language isn’t transparent, so we can’t fully connect it to beauty or social meaning.

Undecidability of meaning: One text can have many valid interpretations, and no single one is final.

New reading of Romanticism: They argued Romantic poets use allegory, not just metaphors, showing deeper complexities.

Video 7

Analysis

• Yale School of Deconstruction focused mainly on literary language—especially rhetoric, metaphor, and figures of speech.
       Their goal was to show that literary texts have multiple meanings, not just one fixed meaning.

• In contrast, other critical theories like Postcolonialism, Feminism, New Historicism, Cultural Materialism, Marxism, and Psychoanalysis used deconstruction to question power, ideology, and social structures.

Postcolonial Theorists

Used deconstruction to dismantle colonial discourse, exposing how colonizers’ texts hide domination within their language.

Feminists

Applied it to subvert male/female binaries, revealing patriarchal power hidden in language and thought.

Cultural Materialists

Focused on the materiality of language—how language is shaped by and also reveals social ideologies.

New Historicists

Believed texts shape history, and history shapes texts. They use deconstruction to show how both are textual—made of words, never fully objective or fixed.

Question & Answer 

7.1. • How other schools like New Historicism, Cultural Materialism, Feminism, Marxism and Postcolonial theorists used Deconstruction?

• New Historicism – Shows history and literature shape each other; both are open to deconstruction.
• Cultural Materialism – Uses deconstruction to expose hidden power in language.
• Feminism – Breaks male/female binary and challenges patriarchy.
• Marxism – Reveals class conflict hidden in texts.
• Postcolonial Theory – Undoes colonial narratives from within.

References

Barad, Dilip. “Flipped Learning Network.” Flipped Learning Network, 1 Jan. 1970, blog.dilipbarad.com/2016/01/flipped-learning-network.html.

DoE-MKBU. Unit 5: 5.1 Derrida & Deconstruction - Definition (Final). YouTube, 22 June 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl-3BPNk9gs.

DoE-MKBU. Unit 5: 5.2.1 Derrida & Deconstruction - Heidegger (Final). YouTube, 22 June 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=buduIQX1ZIw.

DoE-MKBU. Unit 5: 5.2.2 Derrida & Deconstruction - Ferdinand de Saussure (Final). YouTube, 22 June 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7M9rDyjDbA.

DoE-MKBU. Unit 5: 5.3 Derrida and Deconstruction - DifferAnce (Final). YouTube, 22 June 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJPlxjjnpQk.

DoE-MKBU. Unit 5: 5.4 Derrida & Deconstruction - Structure, Sign & Play (Final). YouTube, 22 June 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOV2aDwhUas.

DoE-MKBU. Unit 5: 5.5 Derrida & Deconstruction - Yale School (Final). YouTube, 22 June 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_M8o7B973E.

DoE-MKBU. Unit 5: 5.6 Derrida & Deconstruction: Influence on Other Critical Theories (Final). YouTube, 22 June 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAU-17I8lGY.