Abstract

ALTHOUGH A GREAT VARIETY OF TOPICS are discussed in Derrida's philosophical writings, a central theme recurs in many of them: the relationship between speech and writing. Derrida consistently uses the same methods to deal with this topic, and my reading aims to expose the regulation of these methods. This essay tries to point out the blurring moments of the strategy which lead to one of Derrida's most outrageous outcomes, which is that writing precedes speech. This notion, however, is only the starting point; its consequences are the impossibility of communication and the collapse of the Platonic maxims. Such successful moments of deconstruction are traced back to their origins so as to leave bare the devices on which they are based. It will then be possible to discern a specific recurring stage during which occurs an illegitimate movement according to the Derridian rules of the game.