OF SUPPLEMENTARITY: DERRIDA ON TRUTH, LANGUAGE AND DEVIANT LOGIC

This article seeks to correct some widespread misunderstandings of Derrida's thought, mostly amongst philosophers working in the mainstream analytic line of descent. I put the case - with reference to Of Grammatology along with other writings of his earlier period - that Derrida has made important contributions to philosophy of language and logic, especially with regard to issues of modality, tense, and the scope and limits of classical (bivalent) reasoning. Moreover I contend, again contra the received analytic view, that his texts themselves bear witness to the highest standards of conceptual and logico-semantic precision. That there are now some signs - albeit hesitant and belated - of their coming to recognise these virtues of Derrida's work is welcome evidence that philosophers in that ' other', analytical tradition are beginning to move beyond the old outlook of mistrust or downright hostility toward their typecast ' continental' counterparts.