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THE NATURE AND BASIS OF STRUCTURALISM

T. Hauer

Abstract

Postmodern discourse presented by authors like M. Foucault, J. F. Lyotard, J. Derrida, G. Deleuze, etc., contains the common ground resulting from the development of one line of thought, which advanced from the linguistically-oriented discourse of structuralism, over post-structuralism to postmodernism. The thesis that social relationships and linkages are formed by discourse is an essential prerequisite for understanding the way in which these authors analyse the society. The semiologic version of structuralism is probably the most widespread explanation of the origin of structuralism, although certainly not the only possible one. Thus, the basic significance of Ferdinand de Saussure lies not only in his contribution to linguistics, but in the fact that he made a model for the humanities from what at first glance appears to be quite an inaccessible and highly specialized discipline. Perceiving linguistics as a model for other humanities means paying attention to the conventional basis of non-linguistic signs. It always means to distinguish langue from parole, try to go beyond the act, object or subject itself to a system of rules and relationships that allow them to make a difference. Through a philosophical analysis, the text examines the nature of F. de SaussureВ’s linguistic structuralism and its connection with the emergence of post-structuralism and the postmodern philosophical theory.

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/SGEMSOCIAL2017/HB21/S06.047

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