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DERRIDA AS A CRITIC OF CLASSICAL SIGN THEORY

Abstract
This paper examines how hegelianism and phenomenology are combined in Derrida’s works, and both currents are critically reworked. The point of intersection of these directions is precisely the theory of sign in the relationship between sign and meaning, as well as the connection between meaning and temporality. The Hegelian theory of sign is considered as the highest point of the classical theory of the sign, in which the sign, as an exclusively sensory presence, is “animated” by meaning, thereby providing access to the field of thought. In Hegel’s theory, sign is also considered as a representation of presence in its absence—and therefore, it is sign that introduces the figure of negativity into the systematics of Hegelian logic. But ultimately, negativity, understood as negation, must be resolved in presence, because such is the function of the movement of sublation (Aufhebung). Is dialectic possible without sublation—this is the question that Derrida addresses to Hegelian semiology. The paper further examines logocentrism as one of essential aspects of the classical theory of sign in its French (structuralist) version. It is demonstrated that the privilege of voice over writing also conceals the premise of the primacy of presence, which is characterized primarily as presence in the living present. This justifies transition to the metaphysical structure of temporality, hidden behind every classical theory of sign. Considering Husserl’s theory of sign, sign as an indication does not carry its own function of expression, and indication is excluded in further phenomenological studies on the theory of sign. But Derrida concludes that indication is in fact a necessary property of the functioning of any sign as an expression. This is what immerses any sign system in temporality. Temporality should be considered without the primacy of the living present, relying on Freud’s concept of “aftereffect,” due to which, according to Freud, trauma is formed, and according to Derrida—any institution of meaning, posited as self-given.

Keywords
sign, meaning, temporality, logocentrism, presence, différance, Aufhebung, Husserl, Hegel.

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