Jaques Derrida

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Jacques Derrida (1930–2004) was a Jewish, Algerian-born French critic and philosopher. He is known for deconstructionism, post-structuralism and postmodernism. He was particularly influenced by Husserl, Heidegger, Freud and Paul de Man.

Différance: the constantly sliding meaning of words.
Deconstruction: texts based on binary opposites.

Derrida's views were often controversial (often as they criticized the work of others). In 1992, Cambridge University awarded Derrida an honorary doctorate, despite opposition from its Philosophy Faculty. Twenty philosophers signed a letter of protest that Derrida's work "does not meet accepted standards of clarity and rigour".

On his death, a New York Times obituary that was rather critical received thousands of online objections from his admirers.