A philosophical and critical method that challenges traditional assumptions about language, meaning, and knowledge. It seeks to expose the underlying contradictions and instabilities within texts and systems of thought.

A neologism combining "difference" and "deferral," highlighting that meaning is produced through differences between signs and is always deferred, never fully present. It challenges the idea of stable, fixed meaning.

The mark or absence of a sign that is always already present in its meaning. It suggests that meaning is not self-contained but relies on a network of differences and absences.

The critique of the Western philosophical tradition's privileging of speech (logos) over writing, and the belief in a stable, self-present origin of meaning. Derrida argues that writing is not secondary to speech but is constitutive of meaning.

The Western philosophical tradition's prioritization of presence, immediacy, and self-identity over absence, difference, and deferral. Derrida challenges this by showing how meaning is always already deferred and marked by absence.

Derrida deconstructs binary oppositions (e.g., speech/writing, presence/absence) to show how they are not stable or mutually exclusive but are hierarchically organized and mutually dependent.

A state of impasse or puzzlement where a text or concept contradicts itself, leading to an undecidable situation. Derrida uses aporia to expose the limits of traditional logic and reasoning.

The recognition that meaning is never fully determined or fixed, but is always open to multiple interpretations. It challenges the idea of a single, authoritative interpretation of texts and concepts.