Work Classification Layer
Compare Works
Pick two or more works to set their attribute fingerprints, dimension-by-dimension passages, and shared school embodiments side by side. Especially useful for author-stage comparisons (Wittgenstein early vs late) and for setting a single tradition's foundational texts against each other.
Speech and Phenomena
Derrida's 1967 deconstructive reading of Husserl — voice, expression, and the metaphysics of presence
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | Speech and Phenomena (Early) |
|---|---|
| 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 | — |
| 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 work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.
Time
Speech and Phenomena
1967 — the founding year of deconstruction, with three Derrida books appearing within months (Speech and Phenomena, Of Grammatology, Writing and Difference).
Space
Speech and Phenomena
Paris — ENS (Derrida had been a faculty member since 1965). The intellectual space is the late-1960s French philosophical scene at the height of structuralism (Lévi-Strauss, Lacan, Althusser, the early Foucault) and the moment when post-structuralism was emerging from within it.
Matter
Speech and Phenomena
Single philosophical monograph (~120 pages). Form is sustained close-reading of two Husserlian texts (Logical Investigations and Ideas I) across seven chapters.
Observer
Speech and Phenomena
Early Derrida. The observer-philosopher is in his mid-30s, working out the deconstructive method through close engagement with Husserlian phenomenology — the philosophical tradition in which Derrida had received his early formation (his 1953-54 doctoral thesis under Maurice de Gandillac was on Husserl, and his first published book in 1962 was the introduction to and translation of Husserl's 'Origin of Geometry').
Energy
Speech and Phenomena
Deconstructive-critical energies of post-structuralist Paris. The book demonstrates the deconstructive method at work on a major philosopher with whom Derrida had spent a decade in close engagement.
Information
Speech and Phenomena
Short, densely argued book. Each chapter takes a specific Husserlian text and shows the deconstructive movement at work within it.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
Among Derrida's three founding 1967 books — the most concentrated treatment of phenomenology. Continuously read in continental philosophy and in Husserl-scholarship; the book's central argument about the metaphysics of presence and its critique of the voice/writing privilege has been continuously productive in subsequent deconstructive work.