differance

is term that means on the one hand 'deffer' as in temporal postponement... and on the other 'differ' as in different spatialy. Encompassing both of these meanings simultaneously, it points to the differential structure of our tenuous hold on 'presence'.

by virue of the a combining the temporal (differer, to deffer) and the spatial (differer, to differ modes of difference in a movement which is neither active nor passive. It is this differential play, (re)producing the present secondarily as its effect, which is the (utopian) focus of Derrida's undertaking' (' net')

is a process, not an action we perform or undergo, and the only source of meaning.

Differance, a process, not an action we perform or undergo, neither active nor passive (like other terms ending in ‘ance’: assistance, resonance), is the only source of meaning. But differance has no content; it does not name any kind of presence or transcendence. It is not a concept. Indeed, it is not even a word.

is without content; it does not name any kind of presence or transcendence. It is not a concept. Indeed, it is not even a word.

is the notion that Writing is triumphantly shown to invade the act of speaking (in that writing is a tool required to differentiate homonyms).

In an essay on ‘Differance’, Derrida demonstrates that the term he has invented on the basis of the French homonym is also an instance of deconstruction, and a kind of ironic tribute to Saussure. It is impossible in speech, he reiterates, to use the term without explicitly invoking the spelling. You cannot, he insists, hear the difference between ‘difference’ and ‘differance’ (or difference and differance). The only way to make the distinction evident in speech is to say ‘differance (with an a)’. Writing is triumphantly shown to invade the act of speaking. (Unfortunately, one of Derrida’s translators left the word in French. His English-speaking admirers miss the point, however, when they deliver the word in an imitation of French pronunciation.)

is the deferral of the imagined concept or meaning by the signifier, which takes its place and in the process relegates it beyond access.

differance: the deferral of the imagined concept or meaning by the signifier, which takes its place and in the process relegates it beyond access; the only (but always non-positive) ‘origin’ of meaning.

differance, n.All

differance