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“Difference” is a term coined by Jacques Derrida to describe the complex theory of how words are used and their meaning derived. It is a play on the French verb “differer,” meaning “to differ” and “to defer,” highlighting that a single word cannot give a complete description and that meaning is deferred to further information. The concept is related to Derrida’s deconstruction theory and the idea that there is no fixed universal point of view. Stanley Fish has also used the term to describe how individual readers or groups of readers might have highly contrary readings of a text.
Difference is a French word coined by the French philosopher and deconstructionist Jacques Derrida. The word is a play on several other words that illustrate Derrida’s meaning. The concept of difference is a complex theory that seeks to illuminate the way words are used and how their specific meaning is derived from them. Derrida called differance a “neographism,” meaning a term that is neither a word nor a concept and is used to describe a literary idea.
To create and illustrate the term, Derrida deliberately misspelled the French word difference although the two words are pronounced identically. Although some later critics reverted to the original spelling, Derrida did so intentionally, to highlight the idea that hearing a word does not give the full picture or meaning, and that appearances can be deceiving. In his deconstruction theory, Derrida argued that since each person has different moods, backgrounds, and ways of experiencing things, one word or choice of words will not evoke the same idea in every person.
Difference is a play on the French verb differer, which means both “to differ” and “to differ.” Derrida uses both of these meanings to describe the concept of him. With words, Derrida suggests, meaning is always “deferred” because a single word cannot give a complete description. A word needs other words to give it context; therefore its meaning is deferred to further information. An example of the “defer” argument is the word “house”. By itself, the word gives an incomplete definition. If you say “my house”, “White House” or “dog house”, the picture becomes more complete.
In the second description of the term, “to differentiate,” Derrida claims that specific words are used to differentiate specific ideas. “House,” for example, brings up a different image than alternative words with similar meanings, such as “hut” or “villa.” The specific words we use have an effect on the image we create, making it “differ” from anyone else’s version of the same image.
Derrida introduced the concept of difference in his book, Speech and Phenomena, in a discussion by the philosopher Edmund Husserl. The concept of difference was one that Derrida continued to explore, expanding its meanings in interviews and essays. The difference is also closely related to Derrida’s philosophical theories of deconstruction, which basically state that there is no fixed universal point of view and that changes in meaning are based on individual perspective.
Stanley Fish, one of the developers of Reader Response Criticism, has also used the term to describe how individual readers or groups of readers might have highly contrary readings of a text. For example, there are readers who see Huckleberry Finn as an anti-slavery tale, offering a strong argument for the emancipation of slaves. Other readers, or other discursive communities, feel the tale is quite the opposite and have worked hard to ban the book from libraries and high school reading lists. How each word is taken, read or understood will make a tremendous difference in the final analysis. According to Derrida, all interpretations are valid, even if they can create frustration among users of the same word or words.
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