Glas i fenomen: Uvod u problem znaka u Husserlovoj fenomenologiji

Voice and Phenomenon (1967) is one of the most important and influential early philosophical works of the French philosopher Jacques Derrida. In this meticulous study, the author critically analyzes Edmund Husserl's phenomenology, with particular emphasis on his theory of sign and meaning as presented in Logical Investigations.

Derrida reveals how Husserl's phenomenology, despite its aspiration for a radically new beginning, remains trapped in the "metaphysics of presence"—the tradition of Western philosophy that privileges the immediate presence of consciousness to itself. Husserl privileges speech and the "living voice" in the interior monologue because in it meaning seems immediately present without the mediation of an external sign, while he considers writing to be only a secondary, external, and derivative medium.

In contrast, Derrida argues that voice itself is already permeated by the structure of writing and differentiation (différance). Repetition, absence, and trace are inevitable in any constitution of meaning, thus destroying the illusion of the pure presence of consciousness. Voice and Phenomenon therefore represents a key theoretical foundation of deconstruction and an indispensable reading for understanding the contemporary philosophy of poststructuralism.