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It is not the case that Derrida's critique of presence shows that any purported 'final interpretant' merely defers meaning to further signs, never achieving closure.
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Reasons For
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Reason for
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1.
Practical closure exists: readers routinely reach sufficient understanding for action, suggesting deferrals have meaningful limits.
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2.
Derrida's argument proves too much—if all meaning defers infinitely, even critique of 'final interpretants' becomes meaningless itself.
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3.
Some interpretive frameworks (logic, mathematics) achieve demonstrable closure within defined systems, contradicting universal deferral.
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Reasons Against
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Reason against
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1.
Language is fundamentally relational: words gain meaning only by differing from other words, creating endless chains of reference.
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2.
Empirically, interpretation never stops—readers always find new meanings in texts, suggesting closure is unattainable in principle.
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3.
Any claim to 'final' meaning is self-refuting: asserting it requires language, which itself defers meaning through signs.
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