473:"One sometimes gets the impression that deconstruction is a kind of game that anyone can play. One could, for example, invent a deconstruction of deconstructionism as follows: In the hierarchical opposition, deconstruction/logocentrism (phono-phallo-logocentrism), the privileged term "deconstruction" is in fact subordinate to the devalued term "logocentrism," for, in order to establish the hierarchical superiority of deconstruction, the deconstructionist is forced to attempt to represent its superiority, its axiological primacy, by argument and persuasion, by appealing to the logocentric values they try to devalue. But their efforts to do this are doomed to failure because of the internal inconsistency in the concept of deconstructionism itself, because of its very self-referential dependence on the authority of a prior logic. By an
209:
relied upon to take on a greater role in society, which becomes the moral of the tale. Prasad explains this idea: "The logocentric value is seen through the 'Eternal
Knowledge'—the naturalness of male superiority—that is conveyed through the folktale. The hidden a priori binary opposition is 'Man over Woman'." In relation to the cultural heritage of an audience having an influence on their unconscious preference for one part of binary opposition, Prasad says; "By way of studying a selection of Ethiopian folktales, the paper uncovers the presence of logocentrism and a priori binary opposition being at work in Ethiopian folktales. These two elements attempt to endorse and validate the 'given' subservient position of women in society".
407:"In Culler's book, we get the following examples of knowledge and mastery : speech is a form of writing (passim), presence is a certain type of absence (p. 106), the marginal is in fact central (p. 140), the literal is metaphorical (p. 148), truth is a kind of fiction (p. 181), reading is a form of misreading (p. 176), understanding is a form of misunderstanding (p. 176), sanity is a kind of neurosis (p. 160), and man is a form of a woman (p. 171). Some readers may feel that such a list generates not so many feelings of mastery as of monotony. There is in deconstructive writing a constant straining of the prose to attain something that sounds profound by giving it the air of a
162:, which argue that the perceived binary dichotomy between man/woman, civilized/uncivilised, and white/black have perpetuated and legitimized societal power structures favoring a specific majority. In the last fifteen years it has become routine for many social and/or historical analyses to address the variables of gender, class, sexuality, race and ethnicity. Within each of these categories there is usually an unequal binary opposition: bourgeoisie/working class man; men/women; heterosexual/homosexual. In critical race theory, the paradigm is known as the
38:) is a pair of related terms or concepts that are opposite in meaning. Binary opposition is the system of language and/or thought by which two theoretical opposites are strictly defined and set off against one another. It is the contrast between two mutually exclusive terms, such as on and off, up and down, left and right. Binary opposition is an important concept of
208:
An example of such logocentrism is the strong patriarchal themes in 'The Women and the Pot', an
Amharic folktale that tells the story of two women who are upset at their diminished role in society, and who consequently go to their King for help. He effectively conveys the message that women cannot be
66:
Typically, one of the two opposites assumes a role of dominance over the other. The categorization of binary oppositions is "often value-laden and ethnocentric", with an illusory order and superficial meaning. Furthermore, Pieter Fourie discovered that binary oppositions have a deeper or second level
195:
position, "thereby preventing any means of intervening in the field effectively". To be effective, and simply as its mode of practice, deconstruction creates new notions or concepts, not to synthesize the terms in opposition but to mark their difference, undecidability, and eternal interplay.
176:, which is described as apolitical—that is, not intrinsically favoring one arm of a binary opposition over the other. Deconstruction is the "event" or "moment" at which a binary opposition is thought to contradict itself, and undermine its own authority.
217:
Binary opposition is deeply embedded within literature as language, and paired opposites, rely upon a relation with adjoining words inside a paradigmatic chain. If one of the paired opposites were removed the other's precise meaning would be altered.
53:, the binary opposition is the means by which the units of language have value or meaning; each unit is defined in reciprocal determination with another term, as in binary code. For instance, 'hot' gains meaning because of its relation to 'cold,' and
137:
is the presence of a phallus, while the vagina is an absence or loss. John Searle has suggested that the concept of binary oppositions—as taught and practiced by postmodernists and poststructuralists—is specious and lacking in rigor.
204:
Logocentrism is an idea related to binary opposition that suggests certain audiences will favor one part of a binary opposition pair over the other. This favoritism is often most strongly influenced by readers' cultural backgrounds.
87:, distinguishing between presence and absence, viewed as polar opposites, is a fundamental element of thought in many cultures. In addition, according to post-structuralist criticisms,
59:. It is not a contradictory relation but a structural, complementary one. Saussure demonstrated that a sign's meaning is derived from its context (syntagmatic dimension) and the group (
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Prasad, A. "8. Logocentrism and a priori Binary
Opposition vis-a-vis Women. Politics in Ethiopia Folktales- A Study of Selected Ethiopian Folktales".
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Deconstruction assumes that all binary oppositions need to be analyzed and criticized in all their manifestations; the function of both logical and
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that provide meaning and values. But deconstruction does not only expose how oppositions work and how meaning and values are produced in a
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Dunk, T 1997, 'White guys: studies in post-modern domination and difference', Labour, vol. 40, p. 306, (online
Infotrac).
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The political (rather than analytic or conceptual) critique of binary oppositions is an important part of
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An example of binary opposition is the male-female dichotomy. A post-structuralist view is that
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437:"The Black/White Binary Paradigm of Race: The "Normal Science" of American Racial Thought"
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A classic example of binary opposition is the presence-absence dichotomy. According to
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criticism of binary oppositions is not simply the reversal of the opposition, but its
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Cf., Jacques
Derrida, "Positions" (The University of Chicago Press, 1981), pp. 41–43
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involve secondary binaries: good/bad, handsome/ugly, liked/disliked, and so on.
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Binary opposition originated in
Saussurean structuralist theory. According to
42:, which sees such distinctions as fundamental to all language and thought. In
411:, e.g., "truths are fictions whose fictionality has been forgotten" (p. 181).
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might have most naturally been seen as what you get when you take away an
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Smith, G. (1996). "Binary opposition and sexual power in
Paradise Lost".
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of binaries that help to reinforce meaning. As an example, the concepts
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Baldick, C 2004. The concise Oxford
Dictionary of literary terms,
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Beginning Theory: An
Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory
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http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/65552/binary-opposition
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Fogarty, S 2005, The literary encyclopedia, viewed 6 March 2011,
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can be seen, according to traditional thought, as dominant over
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Pair of related terms or concepts that are opposite in meaning
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Lacey, N 2000, Narrative and Genre, p. 65, Palgrave, New York
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Lacey, N 2000, Narrative and Genre, p.64, Palgrave, New York.
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http://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?pec=true&UID=122
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Britannica 2011, Binary opposition, viewed 9 March 2011,
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Media Studies Volume 2: Content, Audiences and Production
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is traditionally seen as what you get when you take away
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occupies a position of dominance in human society over
524:. 3rd ed. New York, USA: Manchester University Press.
480:, deconstruction deconstructs itself." Searle, ibid.
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972:Privilege (social inequality)
648:Archetypal literary criticism
396:reviewed Johnathan Culler's
351:. Lansdowne: Juta Education.
200:In relation to logocentrism
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627:Outline of critical theory
142:Deconstruction of binaries
927:Hermeneutics of suspicion
374:Derrida, Jacques (1992).
998:Concepts in epistemology
402:New York Review of Books
392:, American philosopher
347:Fourie, Pieter (2001).
248:Polarization (politics)
51:Ferdinand de Saussure
952:Critical rationalism
764:medical anthropology
435:Perea, Juan (1997).
243:Opposite (semantics)
160:critical race theory
684:applied linguistics
148:third wave feminism
896:Siegfried Kracauer
821:technical practice
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759:management studies
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164:black–white binary
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18:Binary oppositions
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520:Barry, P., 2009.
273:Midwest Quarterly
32:binary opposition
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796:race theory
734:geopolitics
719:ethnography
699:criminology
689:cartography
641:Derivatives
538:Goody, Jack
510:(1–2): 108.
404:, writing,
394:John Searle
181:axiological
987:Categories
935:perception
791:psychology
786:psychiatry
531:References
475:aporetical
335:Goody 1977
189:nihilistic
185:discourses
95:, because
56:vice versa
839:Theorists
729:geography
478:Aufhebung
376:Positions
279:(4): 383.
233:Dichotomy
781:practice
769:pedagogy
620:Concepts
540:(1977).
400:for the
228:Antinomy
222:See also
133:because
109:presence
101:presence
89:presence
61:paradigm
910:Related
599:Origins
461:3481059
409:paradox
113:absence
105:absence
103:. (Had
97:absence
93:absence
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504:Fabula
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158:, and
131:female
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457:JSTOR
259:Notes
193:cynic
548:ISBN
390:1983
135:male
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