Why did some critics accuse deconstruction of being nihilistic?

Some critics accused deconstruction of being nihilistic because they viewed it as a radical endorsement of epistemic relativism. By questioning established intellectual categories and expressing skepticism toward the possibility of objectivity, deconstruction challenged the traditional belief in a realm of truth existing independently of language.12

In polemical discussions regarding late 20th-century intellectual trends, the term was sometimes used pejoratively to characterize the movement as a form of frivolous skepticism or nihilism. Critics, particularly those within the Anglo-American philosophical tradition, often dismissed the approach as obscurantist wordplay, arguing that its claims were either trivial, false, or lacked a foundation in historical and political reality.31