Différance

Definition

Différance is Derrida's deliberately misspelled neologism combining two senses of the French verb différer: to differ (in space) and to defer (in time). It names the process by which meaning is never fully present but always split — constituted by the trace of what it is not and perpetually postponed. For architecture, différance radicalizes the Saussurean insight that signs are defined by their differences rather than by positive content: a building's meaning is never self-contained but emerges through its difference from (and deferral to) other buildings, images, histories, and uses. Coyne shows that in Derrida's account, "signifiers appear to be referring constantly to other signifiers" — the word "house" points not to a stable concept but to images, pictures in magazines, televisual representations, and so on in an endless chain.

Key Thinkers

• Jacques Derrida — introduced différance as the non-concept that undermines the metaphysics of presence.
• Ferdinand de Saussure — structural linguistics' insight that language is a system of differences, which différance radicalizes.

Related Concepts

• Deconstruction — the practice that operates through and reveals the play of différance.
• Trace — meaning is the trace-effect of différance: no signified arrives fully present.
• Arche-Writing — the domain in which différance operates, preceding speech and writing.
• Structuralism — différance emerges from but exceeds structuralism's system of binary oppositions.

Source Support

Sources in the wiki that discuss this concept:

• Derrida for Architects — différance and the endless chain of signifiers.