logocentrism

In critical theory and deconstruction, logocentrism is a phrase coined by the German philosopher Ludwig Klages in the 1920s to refer to the perceived tendency of Western thought to locate the center of any text or discourse within the logos (a Greek word meaning word, reason, or spirit).It also refers to the tendential privileging of the signified over the signifier, asserting the signified's status as more natural or pure. This is manifested in the works of Plato, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Ferdinand de Saussure and Claude Lévi-Strauss, all of whom regard speech as superior to writing, since writing only represents speech.
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A distinctly cultural way of understanding.  Derrida  uses this term frequently to refer to the western cultural way of understanding that, he argues, was instituted by Plato  Western logocentrism  privileges language over nonverbal communication.  Click here to see more.,  and it privileges speech over witing with a metaphysics of presence .  Deconstruction  exposes the way in which we must have both sides of the dichotomy (such as writing and speech, or male and female) in order to have the privileged side.