The IAFOR Journal of Ethics, Religion & Philosophy
Volume 2 – Issue – I

The IAFOR Journal of Ethics, Religion & Philosophy
Volume 2 – Issue – I

The IAFOR Journal of Ethics, Religion & Philosophy
Volume 2 – Issue – I

As we know, one important component of the methodology of deconstruction involves
analyzing the logic of binary oppositions, particularly those binaries wielding great cultural
and ideological influence, such as presence/absence, speech/writing, male/female, etc. A
deconstructive methodology approaches such binaries from a variety of perspectives, including
identifying them and explicating the structure in which they mutually function; this structure
usually means that one element of the binary pair largely defines the structure of the whole,
dominating and marginalizing the other. Deconstruction also incorporates historical processes
and does so in at least two ways; first, by what Jacques Derrida in Positions calls ‘a phase of
overturning,’ an effort to reverse ‘the hierarchy at a given moment.’ Perhaps more importantly,
however, is the second mode of this Derridean ‘double science,’ transcending the very structure
of a given binary opposition by articulating ‘the irruptive emergence of a new “concept,” a
concept that can no longer be, and never could be, included in the previous regime’ (41-2).

Michael O’Sullivan