
1. Which of the following quotations from Derrida's _Of Grammatology_ instructs the reader how to employ Derrida's method of deconstruction?
~ "The reading must always aim at a certain relationship, unperceived by the writer, between what he commands and what he does not command of the patterns of the language that he uses. This relationship is not a certain quantitative distribution of shadow and light, of weakness or of force, but a signifying structure that the critical reading should produce."
@ "The reading must always aim at a certain relationship, unperceived by the writer, between what he commands and what he does not command of the patterns of the language that he uses. This relationship is not a certain quantitative distribution of shadow and light, of weakness or of force, but a signifying structure that the critical reading should produce."
a. "In the course of his critique, Derrida does not simply reverse this value system and say that writing is better than speech. Rather, he attempts to show that the very possibility of opposing the two terms on the basis of presence vs. absence or immediacy vs. representation is an illusion, since speech is already structured by difference and distance as much as writing is."
b. "I should never have done, if I were to enter into the details of all the follies which the remembrance of this dear mamma caused me to commit when I was no longer under her eyes."
c. "Presence, then is an ambiguous, even dangerous, ideal. Direct speech is self-violation; perfect heteroeroticism is death. Recourse to writing and autoeroticism is necessary to recapture a presence whose lack has not been preceded by any fullness. Yet these two compensatory activities are themselves condemned as unnecessary, even dangerous, supplements." 
*d. "The reading must always aim at a certain relationship, unperceived by the writer, between what he commands and what he does not command of the patterns of the language that he uses. This relationship is not a certain quantitative distribution of shadow and light, of weakness or of force, but a signifying structure that the critical reading should produce."

2. Derrida claims that Western thought has always been structured in terms of dichotomies that privilege 
~ Derrida claims that Western thought has always been structured in terms of dichotomies that privilege presence over absence. Hence speech is privileged over writing on the assumption that because both the speaker and the listener are present, communication will be understood.
@ Derrida claims that Western thought has always been structured in terms of dichotomies that privilege presence over absence. Hence speech is privileged over writing on the assumption that because both the speaker and the listener are present, communication will be understood.
a. error over certainty.
b. power over weakness.
c. knowledge over ignorance.
*d. presence over absence.

3. Which of the following best expresses a probable impact of Derrida's deconstructive methods?
~ Derrida's desconstructive methods have given historians new tools of analysis that can be used to reveal how authors unintentionally inscribe subtextual messages into their writings.
@ Derrida's desconstructive methods have given historians new tools of analysis that can be used to reveal how authors unintentionally inscribe subtextual messages into their writings.
a. Derrida's deconstructive methods have destroyed entirely the modernist idea of "objective truth."
*b. Derrida's desconstructive methods have given historians new tools of analysis that can be used to reveal how authors unintentionally inscribe subtextual messages into their writings.
c. Derrida's deconstructive methods have given historians new tools of analysis that can be used to destroy history as a profession.
d. Derrida's deconstructive methods could help linguists understand the codes that underly all human languages.

4. Which of the following is NOT an example of deconstructive method?
~ Deconstructive method shows how an author's characteristic use of language embeds unintended messages in the text. A historian might tease out these unintended messages by locating words that have double meanings ("mamma," for example), or a metaphor or binary opposition that creates a figurative meaning at odds with the author's intended meaning (British vs. Africans), or an argument that is based on an unacknowledged premise that renders the argument circular (God created the Earth, so all things must revolve around it). Deconstruction does not primarily involve finding errors in interpretation.
@ Deconstructive method shows how an author's characteristic use of language embeds unintended messages in the text. A historian might tease out these unintended messages by locating words that have double meanings ("mamma," for example), or a metaphor or binary opposition that creates a figurative meaning at odds with the author's intended meaning (British vs. Africans), or an argument that is based on an unacknowledged premise that renders the argument circular (God created the Earth, so all things must revolve around it). Deconstruction does not primarily involve finding errors in interpretation.
a. A historian discovers that an author has consistently used a word with two meanings throughout her text. The second, unacknowledged meaning inscribes the text with a subtextual meaning. The historian writes about the subtextual meaning and shows how it subtly undermines the author's intended point.
b. A historian discovers that an imperial British administrator has described Africans as the projected opposite of the British. The historian writes about this binary opposition and describes the depiction of Africans as a "supplement": the author is employing the supplement to define the British as superior but in doing so is also defining the Africans as necessary to British self-definition.
*c. A historian finds that an author has made a critical error in interpretation of a primary source by ignoring an aspect of the primary source's cultural context. The historian writes about the cultural context of the source and provides a reinterpretation.
d. A historian reads an early modern critique of Copernicus's theory of heliocentricity. The author of the critique claims to be refuting heliocentricity based on scientific evidence but also routinely quotes Biblical passages that describe the earth standing still. The historian's analysis shows how the author of the critique operates with the unacknowledged premise that God created the Earth as the center of creation.

5. Using Derridian terminology, which of the following would be considered the supplement to "light?"
~ "Dark" is the supplement to "light." "Dark" is both necessary to define "light" and is also its opposite and inferior partner. 
@ "Dark" is the supplement to "light." "Dark" is both necessary to define "light" and is also its opposite and inferior partner.
a. bright
b. evil
*c. dark
d. the sun

6. Différance
~ Différance refers to the slippage between a signified and its signifier. While not so prevalent in reference to signifiers that have concrete and single meanings such as "flash drive" (try to think of words that do not have more than one meaning), différance flourishes in the definitions of abstract concepts that are defined in terms of something else (metaphors or binary oppositions).
@ Différance refers to the slippage between a signified and its signifier. While not so prevalent in reference to signifiers that have concrete and single meanings such as "flash drive" (try to think of words that do not have more than one meaning), différance flourishes in the definitions of abstract concepts that are defined in terms of something else (metaphors or binary oppositions).
a. ensures a perfect consensus between individuals on concepts.
b. refers to the inferior term in binary pairings.
*c. refers to the slippage between a signified and its signifier.
d. helps to show an advantage speech has over writing.

7. Deconstruction is NOT
~ Deconstruction is NOT a method to show that meaning is impossible. "Deconstruction is not a form of textual vandalism designed to prove that meaning is impossible...If anything is destroyed in a deconstructive reading, it is not meaning but the claim to unequivocal domination of one mode of signifying over another."
@ Deconstruction is NOT a method to show that meaning is impossible. "Deconstruction is not a form of textual vandalism designed to prove that meaning is impossible...If anything is destroyed in a deconstructive reading, it is not meaning but the claim to unequivocal domination of one mode of signifying over another."
*a. a method to show that meaning is impossible.
b. a method of analysis.
c. a method of critique that can elucidate an author's implicit meanings.
d. the teasing out of warring forces of signification within the text itself.

8. What is Derrida's term for belief in the self-presentation of meaning?
~ Derrida's term for belief in the self-presentation of meaning is "logocentrism." Semiotics is the study of signs (units of meaning in language). Différance is the difference between the sign used to name something and its referent.
@ Derrida's term for belief in the self-presentation of meaning is "logocentrism." Semiotics is the study of signs (units of meaning in language). Différance is the difference between the sign used to name something and its referent.
a. différance.
b. semiotics.
*c. logocentrism.
d. hegemonic intellectuality.

9. What does Derrida mean when he states: "There is nothing outside of the text?" (better translated: "There is no outside-text.")
~ Barbara Johnson explains that when Derrida states, "There is nothing outside of the text," he means that our relation to "reality" functions like a text. In other words, all reality--like a text--may be interpreted in different ways depending on context. Derrida himself said that this phrase meant "there is nothing outside context."
@ Barbara Johnson explains that when Derrida states, "There is nothing outside of the text," he means that our relation to "reality" functions like a text. In other words, all reality--like a text--may be interpreted in different ways depending on context. Derrida himself said that this phrase meant "there is nothing outside context."
a. Since the language of texts is a series of differences, nothing has real meaning.
b. When critiquing a given book, nothing should be taken into account except for the text presented.
c. Meaning can be derived only from text.
*d. Our relation to "reality" functions like a text, interpretable in different ways depending on context.

10. How, according to Derrida, does the following text from Rousseau deconstruct Western philosophical preference for "presence" over "absence"? "I would love society like others, if I were not sure of showing myself not only at a disadvantage, but as completely different from what I am. The part that I have taken of writing and hiding myself is precisely the one that suits me. If I were present, one would never know what I was worth."
~ Rousseau is unable to be fully "present" without the use of writing, which Western philosophy assumes to be a supplement to speech and a corruption of "presence." Rousseau believes he cannot present himself clearly via speech but can via writing. He is therefore more "present" while "absent," which reverses the Western philosophical preferences for "presence" over "absence" and for "speech" (presence) over "writing" (absence).
@ Rousseau is unable to be fully "present" without the use of writing, which Western philosophy assumes to be a supplement to speech and a corruption of "presence." Rousseau believes he cannot present himself clearly via speech but can via writing. He is therefore more "present" while "absent," which reverses the Western philosophical preferences for "presence" over "absence" and for "speech" (presence) over "writing" (absence).
a. Rousseau demonstrates the lesser quality of writing as he states that he hides himself within it.
*b. Rousseau is unable to be fully "present" without the use of writing, which Western philosophy assumes to be a supplement to speech and a corruption of "presence."
c. Rousseau shows the illusion of binary opposites when he explains that he is better able to present himself in writing than in speech. Derrida's main argument here is that Western metaphysics should be valuing writing over speech.
d. Rousseau's disdain for society shows that even great philosophers struggled to fully accept Western philosophical preferences.