signifié transcendantal
A meaning outside the play of signs that would anchor all the rest; in Derrida's argument a stand-in for God or any unifying first principle.
In lecture order, as Marci Shore presents each view. The time opens that minute of the lecture on YouTube.
To Derrida, anything linear, one-directional or Hegelian feels totalitarian, and goes with an illusion: that a transcendental signified, a unifying first principle, exists.
Put simply To Derrida, anything linear or one-directional, anything Hegelian, feels totalitarian. It goes with an illusion: that a single unifying first principle, a stand-in for God, exists.
A sign can only be a stable unity if something anchors it: an arche or transcendental signified that fixes the signifier-signified gap as absolute and irreducible.
Put simply Derrida: a word could keep one fixed meaning only if something outside language anchored it, a first origin or ultimate meaning (a "transcendental signified") that ties word and meaning together for good.
Not only is God dead; so is every would-be successor. History, Man, the Self, any transcendental signified: none exists to ground meaning or hold a system together.
Put simply Derrida: God is dead, and so is everything people tried to put in God's place, such as History, Man or the Self. Nothing exists that could ground meaning or hold a system of thought together.
Play is Derrida's word for signifiers bouncing off one another; with no transcendental signified to cap it, that play has no limit and signification extends infinitely.
Put simply Derrida: words keep bouncing off one another, which he calls "play". With no ultimate meaning to stop it, this play has no limit, so meaning spreads without end.
2 links between claims that both use the term. Each shows the earlier claim, then the later one that answers it. “Our inference” marks a link Shore does not state outright.
DerridaA sign can only be a stable unity if something anchors it: an arche or transcendental signified that fixes the signifier-signified gap as absolute and irreducible. L22 · 27:53
DerridaNot only is God dead; so is every would-be successor. History, Man, the Self, any transcendental signified: none exists to ground meaning or hold a system together. L22 · 28:52
If a stable sign needs an absolute foundation, denying any such foundation removes the sign's guaranteed unity.
DerridaNot only is God dead; so is every would-be successor. History, Man, the Self, any transcendental signified: none exists to ground meaning or hold a system together. L22 · 28:52
DerridaPlay is Derrida's word for signifiers bouncing off one another; with no transcendental signified to cap it, that play has no limit and signification extends infinitely. L22 · 31:18
With no anchor for meaning, nothing limits play among signifiers.
Throughlines that pass through one of these claims.
Terms that appear in the same claims.