post-structuralism

Michel Foucault

Paul McFarland Louise Eason

So, like… what even?

Post-structuralism

Post-structuralist thinking:

Is seen as a supplement to structuralism.

“Post-structuralism is not 'post' in the sense of having killed structuralism off , it is 'post' only in the sense of coming after and of seeking to extend structuralism in its rightful direction”(John Sturrock, Structuralism, Paladin: London, 1986, p. 137).

1

Post-structuralist thinking:

Attempts to problematize and challenge many of the assumptions of structuralism.

Post-structuralism is a reaction against structuralisms' claims to “scientific objectivity” and “universality.”(Barbara F. McManus, Readings and Assignments,1998).

2

Post-structuralist thinking:

Sought to redress the universalizing tendencies of structuralism by introducing specificity into discourse.

Post-structuralism identifies the influence of discourse in shaping reality (both perceptions of reality and the tangible reality that is perceived). We experience only partial aspects of the world and some of what we experience is based on falsehoods entrenched in the discourses we have learned.

3

Post-structuralist thinking:

Introduced notions of time and difference.

Derrida proposes, in a nut shell, that his own notion of différance, more accurately accounts for the true nature of signification than does Saussure’s concept of ‘difference’.(Dr. Richard Clark, Derrida’s Philosophy of Language).

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Post-structuralist thinking:

Meaning was never fixed and always subject to deferrals and play.

For Derrida, no word (or sign) can ever be brought directly into alignment with the object it signifies. This means that meaning is always deferred, and can never be final.Derrida describes this theory in terms of "play," by which he means a kind of game where winning and losing happen in turn, and as something which has some "play" in it, like an "articulated" joint.

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Post-structuralist thinking:

Challenged the treatment of binary oppositions in structuralism.

Within the post-structuralist project, andwithin deconstruction, there is no either/or,there is just an open search for meaning.(Dr Chris Brisbin, Lecture 4: Post-structuralism: Deconstrction and Deconstructivism, 2013)

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Post-structuralist thinking:

Sought to expose the fact that within binary oppositions one term is invariably privileged over the other.

According to Derrida, meaning in the West is defined in terms of binary oppositions, “a violent hierarchy” where “one of the two terms governs the other.”(Jacques Derrida, Positions, 1992, p.41).

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Peter Eisenman

House X

• Study of the relationship between architecture and typology• Ignores the idea of form following function

Peter Eisenman

House X

• Study of the relationship between architecture and typology• Ignores the idea of form following function

Bernard Tschumi

Parc de la Villette

• A park based on ‘culture’ rather than ‘nature’• Open to interpretation• Mark an era of future economic and cultural development.

Bernard Tschumi

Parc de la Villette

• A park based on ‘culture’ rather than ‘nature’• Open to interpretation• Mark an era of future economic and cultural development.

Bernard Tschumi

Parc de la Villette

• A park based on ‘culture’ rather than ‘nature’• Open to interpretation• Mark an era of future economic and cultural development.

Daniel Libeskind

Jewish Museum

• Building to express feelings of absence, emptiness and invisibility• Interior spaces can not be read from the exterior• Translation of human experience into architectural composition

Daniel Libeskind

Jewish Museum

• Building to express feelings of absence, emptiness and invisibility• Interior spaces can not be read from the exterior• Translation of human experience into architectural composition

Daniel Libeskind

Jewish Museum

• Building to express feelings of absence, emptiness and invisibility• Interior spaces can not be read from the exterior• Translation of human experience into architectural composition

Thank you!