How did Derrida's deconstruction challenge the opposition between nature and culture?

In deconstruction, Jacques Derrida challenged the binary opposition between nature and culture by demonstrating that it is not an absolute or independent distinction, but rather a conceptual product of culture itself.12

Western philosophy has traditionally treated such oppositions as hierarchical, assuming one term is primary (nature) and the other secondary or derivative (culture). For example, philosophers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau viewed nature as a prior, idyllic state that culture subsequently corrupts. Derrida’s analysis displaces this hierarchy by showing that the very idea of "nature" is a cultural construct; what is defined as "natural" varies across different historical and cultural contexts.12

Derrida argued that the relationship between these terms is not one-sided or unidirectional. By revealing that the opposition relies on internal contradictions and figurative language within texts, he demonstrated that neither term is truly primary. The goal of this deconstructive approach is not to invert the hierarchy—which would merely reinforce the problematic binary—but to displace it, exposing the instability of the categories themselves.12