The other of the other
Levinas and Derrida on generosity and transcendence
pp. 75-98
in: , Man as a place of God, Berlin, Springer, 2007Abstract
After Heidegger and Rorty, Derrida is the third discussion partner in my quest for the place of the "self" in Levinas. Derrida wrote several commentaries on the work of Levinas. The commentary in "Violence et métaphysique" centres on the paradoxical relation of peace and violence in Levinas" work. Is it possible to interpret the nearness to the other exclusively in terms of peace, or is there an implicit form of violence in the other"s intrusion on the self? In "En ce moment même dans cet ouvrage me voici" Derrida focuses on style and intertextuality. Whence comes the sense of presence which makes itself so distinctly felt in Levinas" texts? How does he manage to be so strongly present as a speaking voice in his philosophical work? Isn"t the text a sign of the absence of the author and the reader? But—a differ- ent question—why then is it so difficult to enter into a real dialogue with Levinas himself? Is he perhaps hiding something in his texts after all?