RE: The real problem...

If you're saying Derrida changed his position over time, fine, but it'd
be nice if you provided quotations. What John seemed to be arguing was
that Derrida's understanding of "deconstruction" was stable from the
time of writing to the time of comment. If you disagree, well, that's
simply a disagreement over facts, so you should support your assertions
with some facts. John provided quotations to support his ideas, you
should too.
Jim

I am not arguing that Derrida's (himself) meaning of Deconstruction changed,
what I am saying is that if meaning resides in the text apart from the
author (regardless of exactly where this concept comes from, as far as I
know, John thinks it's true) then why do we need the author to elaborate
older texts with newer ones, and not changing what _he_ meant but by trying
to 'correct' others readings. If my understanding of the meaning of a text
requires correction from an author then that places the author in the
privileged position over the text and over the readers text derived meaning.
This is the thing that I have been talking about since way back when I
joined this caravan. I really don't care as far as this specific discussion
is concerned whether Derrida's intended meaning of deconstruction has been
stable what matters is that we keep our sources of meaning clear. I
appreciate being corrected by John concerning the particulars of what
Derrida means but that just begs the question; Is that True? Correction for
misunderstanding always assumes that but I am drawing it out for explicit
recognition.
Daniel

>So when Derrida later clarifies the meaning he is not changing
>the meaning in that older text since it already exists apart from him but
>rather what we get from him is his intended meaning which is not relevant
to
>those readers extracting meaning from the older text yet it is relevant for
>those who want to know what the author means.
>
The issue, as I see it, has never been what Derrida's _texts_ "mean" --
as you and Luke have framed it -- but what Derrida himself _means_ and
stands for.
Jim

Yes, exactly Jim. But what a text means is subjected to what the author
means otherwise there is no room for correction only rhetoric. This does
not mean that we can always get to what an author means from only the text
but it is the Truth, the gold we dig for. Not all mining operations are
profitable.
Daniel
 
You don't see a difference because you probably equate
textual meaning with authorial intent. If you want to know what Derrida
thinks, you need to read his writing and then his comments about his
writing and figure it out from there, especially if there are repeated
comments all about one point (such as the meaning of "deconstruction" --
this is a rare instance in which an author has commented extensively on
his own work).
Jim

That is it Jim, according to the school that believes that the author's
intent is irrelevant to a text it is ridiculous for some one in that school
of thought to direct some one else to a text to find out what an author
really mean's. Of course I believe it is possible to actually learn what an
author intended to mean in a text, not my meaning or a field of meanings but
what the author intended, it is some times extremely difficult to know and
we require correction and help often but if there is not authorial intended
meaning in the text then why beat the reader up for misunderstanding an
author.
Daniel

It's perfectly legitimate to claim that Derrida's later
stated intention isn't consistent with what he actually wrote, but to
support this claim you should cite his texts and then his later
interpretation of it and show us how the two conflict.
Jim

Yes, True but that is not my point at this time.
Daniel

 From what I've read of the earlier work and his later comments, the two
don't seem to conflict at all.
Jim

Maybe not for you but some have seen conflictions but that is another round
but non-confliction is anchored in meaning and those wobbly jetties
remember.
Daniel
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Received on Thu Aug 14 14:35:03 2003