Writing over speech in research topics


Author: Terence Rajivan Edward
Abstract. According to Jacques Derrida, the Western philosophical tradition has privileged speech over writing. This paper presents an advantage of writing over speech when it comes to choice of research topics, at least for some people.
Draft version: Version 2 (12th August, minor edits; version 1 on 16th March 2023)
PDF available at: https://www.academia.edu/98641270/Writing_over_speech_in_research_topics


        This is Jacques Derrida, Sarah Richmond's Jacques Derrida:
"According to Derrida, Western thought, from at least Plato onwards, has repeatedly propagated a false hierarchy, placing speech above writing. Philosophers have regarded writing with suspicion, as a dangerous repository of thought, in which the speaker’s intentions are likely to be betrayed." (1996: 39)
My aim here is to present a brief example in which writing is valued over speech.


        Imagine that you are a researcher in literary criticism. And someone comes up to you and asks you, "Who's your author? Who’s the author you focus on?" You hesitate briefly and then say, "Virginia Woolf."  But it is a lie. You work on another Bloomsbury author, or authoress - is that an acceptable word? You did not want this person to loudly say, "Who's that?" or make an unpleasant facial expression of not knowing. There you are spending all your time writing about this authoress, or much of it anyway, and this person does not even know them. Surely the expression itself is a challenge to your whole project, to its very legitimacy. If all such research was to be conveyed orally (or were to be), you probably would not do research on this author at all. But in writing you are safe, safe from this challenging expression (or in writing with other conditions met, conditions which seem normal enough). You can write all day on this less known author and even upload your writings onto the Internet for anyone interested. 


Appendix: a civilized flowchart


                                "Which author?"
                                        *
                                        *
`                           *********************************
                           *                                *        
                Challenge question assumption        Don't challenge question
                                                        *                        *
                                                Tell the truth                Say Virginia woolf


Reference
Richmond, Sarah. 1996. Derrida and Analytical Philosophy: Speech Acts and their Force. European Journal of Philosophy 4 (1): 38-62.