“Play” in Derrida's “Structure, Sign, and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences” Ipshita Chakraborty College

In his essay “Structure, Sign, and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences”, Derrida construes the idea of “play” as a decentering of structures within the structures themselves. The term “jeu” which translates to “play” has also been called “Freeplay”, “interplay”, “game”, and “stake”. It is in language, in words, and concepts. It is the “disruption of presence”, and also the originator of absence and presence. “Play” is the exploration of the multiplicity of meaning superseding any alternatives for presence and absence, and concern for the coherence of structures for their decentered origins. The centering of structures, designed to consolidate the structures from within contradicts itself because the fixedness of structures compromises their free play by limiting it. The notion of the center is only present by force of desire and no fundamental principle. It is “an organizing principle that allows for limited play.” According to Derrida, the center of the structure, traditionally speaking, has always been given more importance than the structure itself. He elaborates on the supporting notions that adhere to the sustenance of this notion of the center instead of the structure, such as the notion of the transcendental...