French Postmodernism is not as difficult as it may appear. Derrida does a good job in defining his terms, and as long as we keep those definitions present, much of what he says is not only coherent, but quite insightful:
transcendental signified: the God's-eye point of view; being-as-presence (OG, 50).
trace: the relationship where the "other" is marked. It is a web of interpretation that already precedes the entity (OG, 47).
play: absence of the transcendental signified. No meaning outside reference. The affecting of signs within the field of being (OG, 50). Mediation goes all the way down. “il n’y a pas de hors-texte.” There is no aspect of our experience that escapes the play of signifiers. Instead of a metaphysics of presence we have an ontology of quasi-trace. Reference never gets to a “pure” outside that isn’t already touched by mediation and signifiers.
transcendental signified: the God's-eye point of view; being-as-presence (OG, 50).
trace: the relationship where the "other" is marked. It is a web of interpretation that already precedes the entity (OG, 47).
play: absence of the transcendental signified. No meaning outside reference. The affecting of signs within the field of being (OG, 50). Mediation goes all the way down. “il n’y a pas de hors-texte.” There is no aspect of our experience that escapes the play of signifiers. Instead of a metaphysics of presence we have an ontology of quasi-trace. Reference never gets to a “pure” outside that isn’t already touched by mediation and signifiers.
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