Abstract This paper seeks to reevaluate deconstruction. The strength of deconstruction lies in its description of human knowledge as a process of decoding. However, deconstruction fails to provide any basis for non-contingent value judgments because the codes it investigates are assumed to exist on the same integrative level. Using J.T. Fraser's hierarchical theory of time, it is possible to salvage the liberating energy of deconstruction while providing it with sufficient foundation to allow it to claim that something is better than something else.