Challenging Structuralism

Jacques Derrida first challenged structuralism. He rejected the assumption of texts having self-referential systems and that meaning is both determinable and determinate. As a poststructuralist, he viewed the world through language. Like language, Derrida believed our thoughts, perceptions, and ideas are "generated by difference" (Derrida 278). What Derrida ultimately believes, which he attempts to explain through his theory of difference, is that nothing stands on its own. Everything is somehow related in one way or another, which he "traces." Derrida even uses the verb 'to differ' to make his point.  In doing so, the method of "deconstruction" appears. I enjoyed this reading because as Derrida views texts as intertexts, I too believe in a lack of originality and an emphasis on interrelatedness.