How did Jacques Derrida define logocentrism in Western culture?

Jacques Derrida defined logocentrism as the pervasive assumption in Western culture that a realm of "truth" exists prior to and independent of its representation through linguistic signs.1

This perspective encourages the belief that language is merely an inessential tool for representing reality, rather than being inextricably bound to it. Derrida argued that this concept stems from a deep-seated prejudice in Western philosophy he termed the "metaphysics of presence," which prioritizes concepts like essence, identity, and origin while neglecting the roles of absence and difference.1

Derrida illustrated this through the binary opposition of speech and writing. Western thought traditionally privileges speech as a more authentic, "present" form of communication, while viewing writing as a secondary, derivative, or "absent" representation. By deconstructing this hierarchy, Derrida sought to show that neither term is primary, as both rely on the same underlying structures of representation.12