Few have had the effect on any field that Derrida has had on the field of hermeneutics. Entering the world of structuralism in the mid-20th century, his early writings ushered in the era of post-structuralism. His writing not only changing the field of text criticism, but shook up the understanding of linguistics, semantics, and philosophy. This paper will dive into some of the basics of Derrida’s theories—including differance, slippage, etc—and then explore the impact his theory on hermeneutics broadly. It then explores various responses to Derrida’s theory and assesses their validity. Ultimately, this paper eschew’s simplistic answers to the problem of hermeneutics by critiquing inadequate continuations of Derrida’s concepts.

Written: December 15, 2023

Word Count: 10,440

Origin: Submitted to Dr. Filipe Maia in Partial Fulfillment of TT957: Postmodern Theology

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