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Persona #235

Jacques Derrida

1930–2004
French philosopher of deconstruction

Différance, the absent centre, and the deconstruction of metaphysical oppositions

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where personas disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid (32 attributes) is shown.

Attribute Jacques Derrida
Time · Extent Infinite
Time · Ontological Status Relational
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom NDet
Time · Traversability Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Uni-directional
Space · Extent Infinite
Space · Ontological Status Relational
Space · Curvature Curved
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Local
Matter · Extent Finite
Matter · Ontological Status Relational
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Local
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Mediate
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Limited
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Active
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency None
Observer · Moral Authority Tradition
Observer · Theological Method Critical
Energy · Extent Finite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Irreversible
Information · Ontological Status Relational
Information · Cosmic Conservation Non-conserved
Information · Personal Conservation Non-conserved
Information · Granularity Continuous

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each persona's writings reveal about their stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

Jacques Derrida

Time as deferral (différance); the present is never fully present, always differing from itself and deferred.

Space

Jacques Derrida

Conventional physical space; the philosophical action is in textual/inscriptional rather than physical-cosmological space.

Matter

Jacques Derrida

Relational; the material substrate of inscription (writing, the trace) is constitutive of meaning, but not as static substance.

Observer

Jacques Derrida

Embodied agent of reading and writing; meaning emerges in the iterable structure of inscription, not in the presence of an authorial intention.

Energy

Jacques Derrida

Not Derrida's focus; assumes conventional physics.

Information

Jacques Derrida

Information is relational and non-self-identical (différance): meaning is constituted by the differential play of the text, not by a stable signified.

Internal Tensions

Where each persona's working synthesis strains against itself.

Jacques Derrida

The political-ethical Derrida of the 1990s and 2000s (on hospitality, justice, democracy-to-come) has been criticised by some (analytic critics) as inconsistent with the more austere deconstructive earlier work, and by others (Marxist critics) as too detached from concrete political struggle. The reception remains contested and active.