StructuralismandDeconstructiveCriticism

1、Structuralism and Deconstructive Criticism -by PeterStructuralisml A Brief Introductionl Nature of the Linguistic Signl The Structural Study of Myth Deconstructive Criticisml Backgroundl Deconstruction of Jacques DerridaOutlineWhat is structuralism?lStructuralism is a mode of thinking and a method o

2、f analysis practiced in 20th-century social sciences and humanities.lThe structuralist mode of reasoning has been applied in a diverse range of fields, including anthropology, sociology, psychology, literary criticism and architecture. 结构主义是20世纪60、70年代在法国风行一时的哲学和人文科学思潮，主要包括结构主义语言学、结构主义人类学、结构主义文学批评三大

3、领域。 What is structuralism?lemphasizing the systematic interrelationships among the elements of any human activity, and thus the abstract patterns and conventions governing the social production of meaning.lsystem, interrelationships, rules, principles, pattern, conventionl结构主义所要研究的中心课题, 就是从混乱的现象背后找出

4、秩序来。我们面对的现象是杂乱无章的，要在杂乱的现象中抽出基本的结构秩序，这样就可以帮助我们更加清楚地把握现象。 列维斯特劳斯What is structuralism?l“what is new in structuralism is a mode of thought or a poetics which seeks less to assign completed meanings to the objects it discovers than to know how meaning is possible, at what cost and by what means”l“不关注意义的

5、内容，而关注意义如何形成。”l“and it is because this fabrication of meaning is more important, to its view, than the meaning itself, it is because the function is extensive with the works, that structuralism costitutes as an activity, and refers exercise of the work itself to a single identity.”l“人文话语中，意义是我们结构主义的

6、想象中，赋予我们所认识的事物的。”What is structuralism?The linguistic backgroundA Brief Review of Saussures Notions1)Diachronic and Synchronic studies 2)Signifier and Signified 3)Langue and Parole 4)Systematic difference determines the meaning (s)Nature of the Linguistic SignIn Course in General Linguistics, Saussu

7、re holds that language is a system of signs that express ideas. The linguistic sign unites, not a thing and a name, but a concept and a sound-image. The latter is not the material sound, a purely physical thing, but the psychological imprint of the sound, the impression that it makes on our senses.S

8、IGNIFIERSPOKEN OR WRITTEN FORMRead this word: FIRESay this word: FIRESIGNIFIED: concept or thingSIGNIFIED: concept or thingFire?The linguistic sign is then a two-sided psychological entity that can be represented by the drawing:The Arbitrary Nature of the SignThe bond between the signifier and the s

9、ignified is arbitrary. Since I mean by sign the whole that results from the associating of the signifier with the signified, I can simply say: the linguistic sign is arbitrary.不同的语言中，不同的声音可以表示相同的意义。 书book不同的语言中，相同的声音可以表示不同的意义。ai-爱、哎，may-妹，too-吐同一语言的音义关系也有任意性玉米、苞谷、苞米、棒子、玉蜀黍、玉茭茭语言符号的任意性特点表现举例语言符号的任意性特

10、点表现举例从前有个老太婆，初次跟外国话从前有个老太婆，初次跟外国话有点接触，希奇得简直不敢相信。有点接触，希奇得简直不敢相信。她说，他们说话真怪，明明是五她说，他们说话真怪，明明是五个，法国人不管五个叫个，法国人不管五个叫“五个五个”，偏偏要管它叫偏偏要管它叫“三个（三个（cingcing）”；日本人管日本人管“十十”叫叫“九（九（ ）”，明明是脚上穿的鞋子，明明是脚上穿的鞋子，日本人不管鞋叫日本人不管鞋叫“鞋鞋”，偏偏叫，偏偏叫裤子（）裤子（）；这明明是；这明明是水水，英，英国人偏偏叫国人偏偏叫“窝头（窝头（waterwater）”，只有咱们中国人好好的管它叫水，只有咱们中国人好好的管它叫水

11、，咱们不但管它叫水，这东西明明咱们不但管它叫水，这东西明明是水嘛。是水嘛。赵元任赵元任语言问题语言问题 赵元任赵元任语言学家、哲学家、作曲家语言学家、哲学家、作曲家n语言符号的特点语言符号的特点- -任意性任意性The word arbitrary also calls for comment. The term should not imply that the choice of the signifier is left entirely to the speaker (we shall see below that the individual does not have the po

12、wer to change a sign in any way once it has become established in the linguistic community); I mean that it is unmotivated, i.e. arbitrary in that it actually has no natural connection with the signified.The Linear Nature of the SignifierThe signifier, being auditory, is unfolded solely in time from

13、 which it gets the following characteristics: (a) it represents a span, (b) the span is measurable in a single dimension; it is a line.线性特征线性特征l 线条性：指的是在语言运用过程中，语言符号只能一个跟着一个依次出现，在时间的线条上绵延，不能在空间的面上铺开。l 这种线条性的存在是因为：作为语言符号的形式的语音只能一个跟着一个依次出现，人们绝对不可能在同一时间内说出两个符号或两个以上的语音。l 语言符号的线性组合（语音序列，词组、句子）是由规则支配，要遵守一

14、定的规则，不能随意编排。l 其他符号形式可以不具备线条性。The Structural Study of MythStrauss (28 November 1908 30 October 2009) was born to French parents who were living in Brussels at the time, where his father was working as a painter. He studied law and philosophy, but found neither interesting. Then he took up anthropolog

15、y.He was a French anthropologist and ethnologist, and has been called, along with James George Frazer, the “father of modern anthropology”列维斯特劳斯的神话研究列维斯特劳斯的神话研究 神话具有神话具有“二重性二重性”，表面看起来神话有很大的，表面看起来神话有很大的随意性，但各种神话却存在大致相似的结构。确定随意性，但各种神话却存在大致相似的结构。确定表面无秩序的神话的内在秩序成为神话研究的主要表面无秩序的神话的内在秩序成为神话研究的主要目标。目标。 与普洛普

16、不同的是，列维斯特劳斯并不满足于与普洛普不同的是，列维斯特劳斯并不满足于寻找神话的横向组合链，而是力图分析隐蔽在神话寻找神话的横向组合链，而是力图分析隐蔽在神话内部的内部的纵向聚合的逻辑结构纵向聚合的逻辑结构。 Strausss study of mythlMythemes(神话素）: Strauss believed that myth ,like the rest of the language, is made up of constituent units. But what consists of language is different from that of the myth

17、 they belong to a higher and more complex order. For this reason, we shall call them mythemes.lWhat Strauss believed he had discovered when he examined the relations between mythemes was that a myth consists of juxtaposed binary oppositions(二元对立). For example, Oedipus consists of the overrating of b

18、lood relations and the underrating of blood relations.分析神话的基本步骤：抽离出神话的基本成分神话素；按照二元对立的方式排列出神话素的组合方式；显示神话的深层结构。 神话结构是由相应并互相对立的神话素构成。所有的神话都存在二元对立关系，无论神话怎样衍变、发展，这种内在结构保持不变。换句话说，神话是处于二元对立之中并在无数变体里重复的概念系统。Deconstructionism Background of DeconstructionismlAt the end of 19th century, Nietzsche( 1884-1990, a

19、 German philosopher), in his work Thus Spake Zarathustr查拉图斯特拉如是说, proclaims the death of God, simultaneously calls for revaluation of all values. l 19世纪末，尼采宣称“上帝死了”，并要求“重估一切价值”。他的叛逆思想从此对西方产生了深远影响。作为一股质疑理性、颠覆传统的思潮，尼采哲学成为解构主义的思想渊源之一。另外两股启迪和滋养了解构主义的重要思想运动，分别是海德格尔的现象学以及欧洲左派批判理论。 Background of Deconstruc

20、tionismlWorld Wars and , a decline in the influence of Christianity and individualism, and a new group of theologians seek to discover ultimate reality.l两次世界大战及科学技术的迅猛发展彻底地摧毁了一些人的精神世界。在解构主义看来世界去中心了，在一个无中心的世界里没有人可以找到一个中心来支持他们的精神信仰。Background of DeconstructionismlIn 1966, Derrida showed his paper “Str

21、ucture, Sign, and Play in the Discourse of the Human Science” at a Johns Hopkins University symposium（座谈会） and then questioned and disputed the metaphysical assumptions held to be true by Western philosophy since Plato. l1966：德里达在美国做人类科学话语中的结构：符号和游戏的著名演讲，是解构主义的奠基之作。Background of DeconstructionismlSu

22、bsequently, deconstruction, the more intricate and challenging method of textual analysis appeared.lDerrida borrows the basis of and the starting point for his deconstructive strategy from the school of Structuralism. What is Deconstruction?lDeconcstructionism claims to subvert or undermine the assu

23、mption that the system of language provides grounds that are adequate to establish the boundaries, the coherence or unity, and the determinate meanings of a literary text. Deconstruction, not ReversallDeconstruction doesnt simply reverse the opposition, nor does it destroy it. Instead it demonstrate

24、s its inherent instability. It takes it apart from within, and without putting some new, more stable opposition in its place.What is Deconstruction?l“In deconstruction, the critic claims there is no meaning to be found in the actual text, but only in the various, often mutually irreconcilable, virtu

25、al texts constructed by readers in their search for meaning” (Rebecca Goldstein)l“在解构中，评论家宣称在真正的文本中不可能找到含义，只能通过各种各样方式并通常是双方不可互相调和的，读者为了寻找含义而构建起来的虚拟文本上才能找到”(丽贝卡戈尔茨坦) Jacques DerridalJacques Derrida (1930-2004), a leading figure in the history of modern philosophy and the prime mover of poststructural

26、ism or deconstruction, was born in a Jewish family in Alaiers.lWorks: Margins of Philosophy (1972), Positions (1972), Glas (1974), and The Post Card (1980).LogocentrismlCenters: God, reason, origin, being, essence, truth, humanity, beginning, end and self. l Logocentrism(逻各斯中心主义): The belief that th

27、ere is an ultimate reality or center of truth that can serve as the basis for all our thoughts and actions.lDerrida holds that logocentrism is a combination of metaphisical presence and phonocentrism.and phonocentrism supports the metaphisical presence. so in order to destroy the root of metaphysics

28、, we must deconstruct the two aspects.l德里达认为，逻各斯中心主义是在场形而上学和语音中心论的结合体。而语音中心论支撑着在场的存在。所以要彻底瓦解形而上学的根基，就必须对这两方面进行解构。 Logocentrism(逻各斯中心主义）l逻各斯中心主义认定语言与思维是同一的，认为在诉诸语言之前即存在一个明确的意义或中心，语言只是这一意义的外在特征和服饰。l因此，在传统的逻各斯中心主义那里，意义、口头语、书面语三者是有等级的：意义是中心，口头语是意义的表征，而书面语（文字符号）则只是口头语的记录。逻各斯中心主义的核心，就在于坚信有某种存在于语言之外的所谓本原、本

29、质、绝对真理，即某种终极之“道”或者意义，而仅仅将语言看成是表达“道”或意义的工具。l正是这样一种信念，导致西方从古希腊开始就形成一种以言语压制文字的传统，将声音（口头语）看成最接近思想或事件的媒介，而将书写记号（文字）仅仅看成是声音的派生物。l这实际上就是“语音中心主义”。lDerrida concludes that Western metaphysics is based on a system of binary operations (二元对立). For each center, there exists an opposing center.lWestern philosophy

30、 decrees that in each of these binary operations, one concept is superior and defines itself by its opposite or inferior center. privileged unprivileged manwomanhumananimalsoulbodygoodbadDiffrance（延异）lHe creates a new word Diffrance. The word itself is derived from the French word Diffrer, meaning “to defer (delay)延迟”, and “to differ (be different from)差异”. lWe know something because it differs from something else to which it is related. By the reversal, nothing can be studied or lear