Messages in Communication
Texts are artifacts insofar as they are products of constructive processes and are ontologically distinct from their authors ( Barton 159). Thus, respecting how readers encounter texts, Derrida correctly says that “there is nothing outside the text” ( Caputo 80; cf. Barton 220). That is, readers only directly encounter the text, not its “meaning,” the author’s “intention,” or anything else about the text; readers must construe these other things from the text. Moreover, a text’s context is not even “attached” to the text. The text may describe its context, but as such, this description is text, not context. Consequently, texts must be placed in contexts, and this placement requires textual data to be construed. ...