Deconstruction

Deconstruction referred initially to a modern effort of philosopher Jacques Derrida to dig beneath the paradoxes that often arise in analyzing reality according to such traditional polar opposite concepts as (1) nominalism vs. realism or (2) discrete vs. continuous reality (for an interesting discussion of the current debate among theoretical physicists concerning the nature of ultimate reality, see "The Unquantum Quantum"), albeit through the rather limited domain of pure semantics. Reality is more complex and subtle than we are able to fully analyze, so there is merit in trying to peal away the layers of our misconceptions. Unfortunately, in the hands of the dilettantes that run the academies these days, Derrida's terms became a rallying cry for every unhappy, post-modern social misfit who is determined to reshape reality according to his or her (or its, in the case of the self-identified sexually indeterminate or uncommitted) fantasies.

And thus, was born the post-modern hermeneutic of suspicion. Thus did academic journals find a reason to embrace the ad-hominem argument in lieu of substantive engagement with ideas.

Modern thinkers are not easily understood, but their ideas are easily abused by the witless.