> For me, Derrida's importance is that he showed how meaning is tied up
> in relation to other versions of meaning, rather than being attached
> to the world. By understanding texts in relation to other texts
> we can bring to light meanings that are hidden.
If that is the great discovery it looks like a mountain laboring mightily to give birth to a mouse. That is not even Wittgenstein's _Philosophical Investigations_, it's Linguistics 101.
The incomprehensible jargon of many continental writers is an old trick of looking profound to those who are too insecure to ask "what the f___ does that mean?" There is no other excuse for poor and incomprehensible writing. Difficult ideas? Maybe, but the hallmark of a great mind is the ability to explain these ideas in understandable terms (Stephen Jay Gould comes to mind as an example). An impostor will make simple, if not trivial, things look esoteric and obscure.
Wojtek