It is characteristic of Deconstructive theory to dismantle traditionally held beliefs and present alternative perspectives. With his critique of Logocentrism, Derrida examines what he considers to be a fundamentally repressive philosophical tradition, one based primarily on that notion of a “centre” which Deconstruction continually sets out to discredit. Essentially, logocentrism is the desire for a centre or original guarantee of all meanings, which, according to Derrida, has characterized Western philosophy since Plato. Taken from the Greek, the word logos can simply be translated as “word”, but in philosophy, it often signifies an ultimate principle of truth or reason. This idea of

This article in full comprises 2112 words but only the first 150 or so words are available to non-members.

All our articles have been written recently by experts in their field, more than 95% of them university professors. To read about membership, please click here.

Published 26 September 2005

Citation: Fogarty, Sorcha. "Logocentrism". The Literary Encyclopedia. 26 September 2005.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=671, accessed 9 February 2010.]