Questions: Différance and Undecidability

Question 1

Derrida argues that the word 'pharmakon' in Plato's Phaedrus is undecidable. What does this claim mean?

• A. Plato failed to be precise enough in his philosophical argument about writing
• B. Modern translators disagree about whether the word means 'poison' or 'remedy' in this context
• C. The word structurally requires both 'poison' and 'remedy' simultaneously, and the text cannot resolve which meaning governs
• D. Any reading of the text is equally valid, since meaning is unstable and cannot be fixed

Answer: (C)

Undecidability is a rigorous claim about the text's structure: 'pharmakon' means both poison and remedy, and Plato's argument depends on both meanings simultaneously — writing is dangerous (a poison to memory) and also preserves thought (a remedy for forgetting). The text cannot settle into one meaning without suppressing the other. This is not imprecision (A), a translation dispute (B), or license for arbitrary reading (D). Derrida must demonstrate the undecidability in the text itself — it cannot be invented by the interpreter.

Question 2

Why does Derrida spell the word 'différance' with an 'a' rather than the standard French 'différence'?

• A. It is a typographical error that became a convention in translations of his work
• B. The 'a' spelling marks a distinction visible only in writing, since both spellings are pronounced identically in French
• C. The 'a' signals the Hegelian dialectic that Derrida sees operating in all language
• D. The neologism simply indicates a new technical term for the process of differentiating signs

Answer: (B)

The 'a' is deliberate and demonstrative. In French, 'différance' and 'différence' are pronounced identically — the spelling difference is visible only in writing. This enacts Derrida's point: the written mark registers a distinction that speech cannot capture, challenging the traditional philosophical privileging of spoken presence over writing. The neologism also captures both operations simultaneously — to differ (spatial differentiation of signs) and to defer (temporal postponement of meaning).

Question 3

According to Derrida, undecidability means that most interpretations of a text are equally valid, since no single meaning can be established.

• T. True
• F. False

Answer: False

This is explicitly rejected by Derrida. Undecidability names specific structural features of language where a text holds incompatible meanings that cannot be resolved from within the text's own resources — and the undecidable reading must be rigorously demonstrated in the text, not invented. Derrida distinguishes responsible close reading from interpretive free-for-all. Undecidability constrains certain closures of meaning; it does not license arbitrary interpretation.

Question 4

Différance builds on Saussure's insight that signs mean through difference, but goes further by adding that meaning is always deferred — never fully present.

• T. True
• F. False

Answer: True

Saussure showed that signs derive meaning from differential relations to other signs, not from any intrinsic connection to a referent. Derrida accepts this but pushes further: if every sign refers to other signs for its meaning, meaning is never fully present — it is always deferred to another sign, which defers to another. This temporal dimension (deferral) is what Saussure's synchronic structuralism did not address, and it is the second operation captured by Derrida's neologism.

Question 5

What does Derrida mean when he says différance involves both 'difference' and 'deferral'? Why do both operations together prevent meaning from ever being fully present?

Model answer: Différance names two simultaneous operations. First, spatial difference: signs mean through their relations to other signs — 'cat' means what it does because it differs from 'bat,' 'cot,' and all other signs, not through any direct bond to a furry animal. Second, temporal deferral: because every sign refers you to other signs for its meaning, meaning is always ahead — promised but never delivered as something complete and present. Both are needed: difference means meaning requires a relational network (no sign stands alone), and deferral means that network never closes into a final, stable, fully present meaning.

Derrida uses Saussure as a starting point but targets its hidden assumption: that despite difference, meaning eventually arrives as something stable and present. Différance denies this arrival. The consequence is that every act of reading is itself a moment in the play of difference and deferral — no reading can claim final authority over a text's meaning. This is a claim about structure, not a license for interpretive relativism.