logocentrism (n.)

In literary STYLISTICS, a term referring to a LANGUAGE- or WORD-centred view of literature or other behavior. The notion is associated with the STRUCTURALIST approach to analysis, which focused on the study of the language of a text to the exclusion of the author’s individuality, the social context, and the historical situation. A reaction to this logocentric view in the late 1960s came to be called POST-STRUCTURALISM. Here, language is seen as a system whose value shifts in response to non-linguistic factors. A range of viewpoints drew attention to the multiple MEANINGS of words, stressing the role of mental processes in interpreting linguistic relationships, and denying the possibility of objectivity in textual interpretation. In particular, the methods of deconstruction, developed by Jacques Derrida (1930–2004), aimed to show the inherent contradictions and paradoxes in logocentric approaches.