Deconstructionism is a term that refers to the philosophy of breaking down complex ideas to their constituent parts. Other words that are commonly used to describe this concept include post-structuralism, critical theory, and semiotics. These terms are all related to the idea of exposing hidden meanings and assumptions that underlie language and other structures of knowledge. Other related terms include hermeneutics, which focuses on interpreting texts, and phenomenology, which examines the ways in which consciousness creates meaning in the world. These concepts all seek to question and challenge traditional assumptions about knowledge and the ways in which it is constructed, offering new ways of understanding the world.