Editing Deconstruction (section)

===Metaphysics of presence===
{{Main|Metaphysics of presence}}
Derrida describes the task of deconstruction as the identification of metaphysics of presence, or ''[[logocentrism]]'' in western philosophy. Metaphysics of presence is the desire for immediate access to meaning, the privileging of presence over absence. This means that there is an assumed bias in certain binary oppositions where one side is placed in a position over another, such as good over bad, speech over the written word, male over female. Derrida writes,
{{blockquote|Without a doubt, Aristotle thinks of time on the basis of ''[[ousia]]'' as ''[[parousia]]'', on the basis of the now, the point, etc. And yet an entire reading could be organized that would repeat in Aristotle's text both this limitation and its opposite.<ref name="Heidegger"/>{{rp|29–67}}}}
To Derrida, the central bias of logocentrism was the now being placed as more important than the future or past. This argument is largely based on the earlier work of Heidegger, who, in ''[[Being and Time]]'', claimed that the theoretical attitude of pure presence is parasitical upon a more [[wikt:originary|originary]] involvement with the world in concepts such as [[ready-to-hand]] and [[being-with]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Heidegger |first=Martin |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/243467373 |title=Being and time |date=22 July 2008 |publisher=HarperPerennial/Modern Thought |others=John Macquarrie, Edward S. Robinson |orig-date=1962 |isbn=978-0-06-157559-4 |edition=Reprint |location=New York |oclc=243467373}}</ref>