The freeplay of meaning gone to extreme: An oriental critique on Derrida

Abstract

Through deconstruction, Jacques Derrida refutes the possibility of knowledge and meaning and moves toward extreme skepticism. A chief Derridean assumption is that the fully free play of meaning runs against origin and logos. The present paper, however, endeavors to throw critical light on Derrida’s anti-logos theory, and to this end, the eastern philosopher Avicenna will be drawn on. Avicennian Ultimate Cause Theory applied, deconstruction will be re-visited arguing that signifiers naturally call for a starting place from which they may initiate signification. Nevertheless, it will follow that logos is not an obstacle against the semantic free flow; rather, meaning circulates freely as a result of infinite similarities among signs, all operating under the auspices of the logos.