The Illusion of Pure Value: Value Conservation in Différance

Abstract: This treatise argues that absolute value is an illusion generated by the structure of language itself, and that the true mode of value’s existence is relational, differential, and governed by a law of conservation. Drawing on the semiotics of Saussure and Peirce and Derrida’s concept of différance, the argument first demonstrates that any cognizable value must enter language and is thus subject to an endless play of difference and deferral, rendering the notion of a fixed, ultimate “signified” of value a contradiction. The text then posits a transcendental structure: the “axiological framework,” which is the condition of possibility for value to appear. Within this framework, a distinction is made between “proto-value” (an undifferentiated, prelinguistic potential) and “value” (its differentiated, positive or negative articulation). The core of the argument is the principle of value conservation: the total quantum of proto-value and value is constant, meaning value cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed. The so-called “creation” of value is merely the differential carving of proto-value, and its “destruction” is the reduction of value back to a state of proto-value. This framework is then applied to reconsider instrumental, value, and communicative rationality, and to reinterpret Weber’s “struggle of the gods” as a deeper “struggle over god-making power.” The treatise concludes by re-evaluating the theories of Derrida, Deleuze, and Adorno, arguing that différance must have a starting point in an identitybased logical space (the semiotic square), even if it has no endpoint. Value, therefore, exists in a tragic space between illusion and reality, where all creation is simultaneously a sacrifice. Furthermore, this treatise addresses the problems of value nihilism and value universalism. It argues that nihilism, in denying the reality of value, commits a performative contradiction: its critical stance itself depends on an unacknowledged positive value, and it selectively overlooks the differential operation of différance, mistaking deferral for absence. Universalism, on the other hand, confuses the universality of the axiological framework with the universality of any particular value; it elevates a positive value carved out within a specific cognitive schema to a transcendent and transhistorical status, disregarding the generative and historical nature of value and thus falling into a reflexive predicament. Both positions, therefore, fail to recognize the genuine, though tragic, mode of value's existence – not as a fixed essence, but as a real process of differentiation and transformation within the limits of the semiotic structure. Keywords: Value, Semiotics, Différance, Proto-Value, Value Conservation, Axiological Framework, Jacques Derrida, Max Weber, Gilles Deleuze