thank god for this bookshelf so i can take my time coming back to this. one of the concepts from saussure that continues to pester me regards how the sign's arbitrariness proves its motivation. i get that the subject is the object, but how does the aleatoric express intent? the last half the book is strictly thinking with rousseau (writing an origin story about writing origins) to unpack the metaphysical baggage of enlightenment anthropologisms regarding binarisms and the fantasy of presence. this part of the book hugely resonated with me. i was not bored anywhere in the whole book. the most fun is murkily stumbling towards a recognition of influence upon other admired thinkers: the hinge thing with nathantiel mackey and the thing and its double thing with mbembe. i wanted to power through more with *writing and difference* and *dissemination* and i absolutely would if i wasn't fastened to a loosely pre-ordained reading list.