The Idea of Difference as a Meaning-Forming Concept of Modern Philosophy

The representation of the idea of difference in French poststructuralist thought as fundamental to postmodern discourse is studied. The new thinking strategies in France at the late 20th century are associated with the need to respond to the intellectual demands of our time. There was a tendency to consider similarity as a result of deep incommensurability, which pointed to the authenticity of the world perception as an indefinite plurality, producing contextual concreteness. Gilles Deleuze’s idea of the concept and the term difference by Jacques Derrida in many aspects illustrate the meaningful nature of difference, aimed at total rethinking and expanding the experience of understanding heterogeneity, essential nonidentity within the philosophical discourse itself, acting as its constitutive moment and a symbolic representation of the postmodern worldview as a whole.