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| One who bows to no authority and accepts no doctrine, however widespread, that is not supported by proof. |
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A type of social methodology based on the concept of destabilization of an existing concept, state, authority, or structure by weakening its core concepts.
A philosophical movement and theory of literary criticism that questions traditional assumptions about certainty, identity, and truth; asserts that words can only refer to other words, and attempts to demonstrate how statements about any texts subvert their own meanings. |
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| A variation of structuralism, often seen as a critique, emphasizing plurality of meaning and instability of concepts that structuralism uses to define society, language, etc. |
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The theory that only the self exists, or can be proved t exist.
(Extreme nihilism; "Cogito ergo sum.") |
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| A theory, especially in ethics or aesthetics, that conceptions of truth and moral values are not absolute but are relative to the persons or groups holding them. |
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| A doctrine which denies, universally or in regard to some restricted sphere of being, the existence of absolute values/truths. |
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| Any of a number of trends or movements in the arts and literature developing in the 1970s in reaction to or rejection of the dogma, principles, or practices of established modernism, esp. a movement in architecture and the decorative arts running counter to the practice and influence of the International Style and encouraging the use of elements from historical vernacular styles and often playful illusion, decoration, and complexity. |
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| A deliberate philosophical and practical estrangement or divergence from the past in the arts and literature occurring esp. in the course of the 20th century and taking form in any various innovative movements and styles. |
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| The belief that there is more than one basic substance or principle, that no single explanatory system or view of reality can account for all the phenomena of life, |
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| The study and interpretation of human behavior and social institutions. |
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| An explanation or critical interpretation (esp. of biblical and other religious texts). |
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| A person who reasons adroitly and speciously rather than soundly. |
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| (Deconstructionism quote) |
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| "In deconstructionism, the critic claims there is no meaning to be found in the actual text, but only in the various, often mutually irreconcilable, 'virtual texts' constructed by readers in their search for meaning. |
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| The scientific study of systems of writing. |
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(a.k.a. Structural Linguistics)
A usually synchonic approach to language study in which a language is analyzed as an independent network of formal systems, each of which is composed of elements that are defined in terms of their contrasts with other elements in the system. |
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| Theory of knowledge that considers how social phenomena develop in particular social contexts. Within constructionist thought, a social construction/construct is a concept or practice which may appear to be natural and obvious to those who accept it, but in reality is an invention or artifact of a particular culture or society. Social constructs are generally understood to be by-products of countless human choices rather than laws resulting from divine will or nature. |
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