The blindness that opens the eye is not the one that darkens vision. Tears and not sight are the essence of the eye.
Jacques DerridaRead
That is what deconstruction is made of: not the mixture but the tension between memory, fidelity, the preservation of something that has been given to us, and, at the same time, heterogeneity, something absolutely new, and a break.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Deconstruction involves balancing memory and fidelity with the creation of new ideas.
This quote by Jacques Derrida illustrates the concept of deconstruction, emphasizing that it is not merely about combining different elements, but rather the intricate tension that exists between respecting existing ideas and materials (memory and fidelity) while also embracing innovation and change (heterogeneity and break). It signifies that the process of creating something new is deeply rooted in the context of its origins and that understanding both aspects is vital for genuine transformation.
Themes
DeconstructionMemoryInnovationChangeTension
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture about postmodern philosophy, one might refer to this quote to discuss the complexities of interpretation.
More from Jacques Derrida
All quotes →Everything is arranged so that it be this way, this is what is called culture.
Jacques DerridaRead
No one gets angry at a mathematician or a physicist whom he or she doesn't understand, or at someone who speaks a foreign language, but rather at someone who tampers with your own language.
Jacques DerridaRead
Psychoanalysis has taught that the dead – a dead parent, for example – can be more alive for us, more powerful, more scary, than the living. It is the question of ghosts.
Jacques DerridaRead
The trace I leave to me means at once my death, to come or already come, and the hope that it will survive me. It is not an ambition of immortality; it is fundamental. I leave here a bit of paper, I leave, I die; it is impossible to exit this structure; it is the unchanging form of my life. Every time I let something go, I live my death in writing.
Jacques DerridaRead
Every discourse, even a poetic or oracular sentence, carries with it a system of rules for producing analogous things and thus an outline of methodology.
Jacques DerridaRead
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