Abstract

The objective of this essay is to present the term differance introduced by Jacques Derrida and to show some important antinomies which seem to be entailed by this category. Differance seems to serve Derrida as a way of thinking about the possibility of surmount the heritage of Western metaphysics. My essay shows how differance may achieve this goal by accumulating within itself descriptions which are not connected strictly with metaphysical terms, despite the fact that this makes differance a paradoxical category. The next part of my essay presents a hypothesis concerning a possible application of differance in attempts to overcome the metaphysical tradition.