The claim that Greeks privileged speech over writing is beyond bullshit. "Phonocentrism" and "logocentrism" of western thought are little more than a chimera for postmodernists to jack off to. It is annoying that it keeps cropping up among people who, unlike Derrida, should know better. Unless your entire understanding of Ancient Greece derived from Plato and maybe the works of Albert Lord, you really have no reason to still believe this anymore with the wealth of insight now available.
There is in fact something deeply suspect about modernity's worship of the written word and insistence on the (increasing) debasèdness of speech. It has some rather far reaching ramifications, such as people getting into a whiny tizzy over Dylan's Nobel award.
In this, Derrida was constructing, not deconstructing a damn thing.
Then again, I hold him in such regard that I think he deserves every bit of that irony.
There is in fact something deeply suspect about modernity's worship of the written word and insistence on the (increasing) debasèdness of speech. It has some rather far reaching ramifications, such as people getting into a whiny tizzy over Dylan's Nobel award.
In this, Derrida was constructing, not deconstructing a damn thing.
Then again, I hold him in such regard that I think he deserves every bit of that irony.
No comments:
Post a Comment