Moments of Disruption

Kris Sealey

Description

In Moments of Disruption, Kris Sealey considers Emmanuel Levinas and Jean-Paul Sartre together to fully realize the ethical and political implications of their similar descriptions of human existence. Focusing on points of contact and difference between their writings on transcendence, identity, existence, and alterity, Sealey presents not only an understanding of Sartrean politics in which Levinas's somewhat apolitical program might be taken into the political, but also an explicitly political reading of Levinas that resonates well with Sartre's work. In bringing together both thinkers accounts of disrupted existence in this way, a theoretical place is found from which to question the claim that politics and ethics are mutually exclusive.
Acknowledgments
Introduction

1. The Role of Being in Sartre’s Model of Transcendence-as-Intentionality

2. Positionality in Levinas’s Transcendence-as-Excendence

3. Levinasian Positionality in Sartre’s Account of Nausea

4. Levinasian Positionality Implicit Sartre’s Affective Experiences

5. Levinas and Sartre on the Question of the Other

Concluding Remarks
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Sujets

• Philosophie
• Épistémologie
• Métaphysique
• Philosophie politique
• Philosophie de l'esprit
• Éthique et morale
• Ethique et morale
• Metaphysics
• Philosophy
• Epistémologie
• Epistémologie
• Epistémologie

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 02 décembre 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438448664
• Langue: English

Extrait

Moments of Disruption
Moments of Disruption
Levinas, Sartre, and the Question of Transcendence
KRIS SEALEY
Cover image: “Rupture of Selfhood” by Frankie Frieri
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2013 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu
Production by Eileen Nizer Marketing by Fran Keneston
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sealey, Kris,
Moments of disruption : Levinas, Sartre, and the question of transcendence / Kris Sealey.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary: “Ethical and political implications of Levinas’ and Sartre’s accounts of human existence”—Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-1-4384-4865-7 (alk. paper)
1. Lévinas, Emmanuel. 2. Sartre, Jean-Paul, 1905–1980. 3. Transcendence (Philosophy) I. Title.
B2430.L484S44 2013
194—dc23
2013000131
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
In loving memory of my father, Curtis Sealey, the first to teach me the value of a sound argument And for little Isaiah, my rock and my light
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1 The Role of Being in Sartre’s Model of Transcendence-as-Intentionality
Chapter 2 Positionality in Levinas’s Transcendence-as-Excendence
Chapter 3 Levinasian Positionality in Sartre’s Account of Nausea
Chapter 4 Levinasian Positionality Implicit Sartre’s Affective Experiences
Chapter 5 Levinas and Sartre on the Question of the Other
Concluding Remarks
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
An earlier version of chapter 4 , section II, of this work appeared in the Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology 41, no. 3 (2010), under the title “Finding Levinasian Passivity in Sartre’s Descriptions of Shame.” I am grateful to both the journal and to Jackson Publishing and Distribution for their permission to include this work. A version of chapter 2 also appeared in Levinas Studies, An Annual Review 5 (2010), under the title, “Levinas’ Early Account of Transcendence: Locating Alterity in the Il y a. ” I would like to thank Duquesne University Press for allowing me to incorporate this into my book. An alternate version of section I of chapter 3 of this work also appeared in Research in Phenomenology 40, no. 3 (2010), under the title “The Primacy of Disruption in Levinas’ Account of Transcendence.” My thanks go out to Brill for allowing me to use this work here. For the cover art of this book, I acknowledge Mr. Frankie Frieri. His tremendous talent and unwavering patience materialized the imagery that captures this book’s title. I am grateful that our paths happened to cross at the precise moment they did.
My dissertation research at The University of Memphis provided the groundwork for this book. As such, I owe much gratitude to the members of my dissertation committee: Robert Bernasconi, Bill E. Lawson, Mary Beth Mader, and Tom Nenon all provided the careful guidance and honest criticism that made that work (and ultimately, this book) possible.
This project began as a twenty-five minute conference presentation at the 2003 meeting of the North American Sartre Society, at Purdue University. Those arduous twenty-five minutes, as well as the following nine years it took for that paper to grow into the book before you, would have ended quite differently was it not for the unequivocal support, mentorship, and tough love of Robert Bernasconi. He has been with me during the entire journey of this book, as an interlocutor, mentor, and friend. Quite arguably, I would not have pursued a degree in philosophy without his quiet “intervention,” and I owe much of my growth as a scholar to his presence in my life. Words cannot express my gratitude for his time, patience, and careful analysis of numerous drafts of these chapters.
Thanks are also due to Roy Martinez, who, on explaining what “SPEP” (Society for Phenomenology and Existentialist Philosophy) meant, convinced me to at least think about pursuing philosophy as an undergraduate at Spelman College. The thought of sending him a copy on completion of this book (signed, like the signed copy of his Kierkegaard and the Art of Irony he gave me some thirteen years ago) thrilled me to no end. I was deeply saddened to know about Dr. Martinez’s passing in 2009. The memory of his encouragement and mentoring, during my intellectual search at Spelman College, often gave me strength to continue writing the chapters of this book.
During the last six years as an assistant professor at Fairfield University, I received tremendous support in writing this book. The support from the College of Arts and Sciences, as well as the Department of Philosophy, made it possible for me to conduct much of the research that went into this project. Our administrative assistants, Charlene Wallace and Joan Huvane, were tremendously helpful throughout. I’m also grateful to the current Chair of our department, Steven Bayne, for his support and guidance. I am particularly indebted to Dennis Keenan, whose invaluable feedback on drafts of my work opened up the trajectory of this project in ways I could never have anticipated. Our many conversations about the role of impersonal existence in Emmanuel Levinas’s early work has shaped my own reading of Levinas’s work. This is abundantly clear in the following chapters. I thank him for this insight, and for the hand of genuine friendship that he and his wife, Liz, have extended to my family and me. I am also thankful for Fairfield University’s Robbin Crabtree, Sara Brill, Joy Gordon, Jocelyn Boryczka, Gwen Alphonso, Marcie Patton, Sonya Huber, Anna Lawrence, and Emily Orlando. Their superhuman intelligence and academic productivity continues to elevate the bar of scholarly excellence.
Many professional organizations and institutions have made the completion of this project possible. I am grateful for the financial support of the Department of Philosophy and the Rock Ethics Institute at Penn State University. Their Anna Julia Cooper Writing Fellowship provided me with the resources (and sanctity) needed to complete the last and most formative chapter of this work. During my week at Penn State, I received feedback from a caring and critical audience of professors and graduate students. In particular, I am grateful to Vincent Colapietro, Shannon Sullivan, Nancy Tuana, and Michael Paradiso-Michau. Graduate students like Axelle Karera and Ayesha Abdullah took time out of there insanely busy schedules to share their thoughts on my research, and for this I am extremely grateful. The North American Sartre Society, the North American Levinas Society, and the Collegium of Black Women Philosophers also provided the stage that ultimately shaped his project into its final form. Over the years, elements of this book were presented at various meetings of all three conferences, and I have benefited from the engagement with scholars in these organizations. I am especially grateful to Drew Dalton for his advice and camaraderie during the 2008 North American Levinas Society meeting at Seattle University. John Drabinski’s unwavering support has also been nothing short of lifesaving during the process of writing this book. I am also thankful for women like Kathryn Gines, Donna-Dale Marcano, Anika Simpson, Kristie Dotson, Rozena Maart, and Nathifa Greene, who all give me inspiration during our time together every April at the Collegium. Quite recently, I’ve also been fortunate enough to know Linda Martin Alcoff. As a friend, mentor, and source of support, she has enriched my life in many ways.
Without a doubt, an endeavor such has this would not be a reality without the love and support of my family, both near and far. From thousands of miles away, my mother Deborah never stopped believing in me and this project, particularly during those moments when I thought it impossible to finish. My grandparents, Linda and Irwin, have poured their hearts and souls into my growth as a person and a scholar, and for that I will always be grateful. My brothers, Kyle and Levi, have always been near, despite the section of the Atlantic that separates us. Closer to the place I’ve come to call home, I owe a tremendous debt to Linda Wooley, Stacy, and Gerry, the people I am fortunate enough to call family. Together with Justin and David, they supported me through the most tumultuous times of this project.
Most important of all, I thank my husband, David Terence Wooley Jr. He has been my first reader, and rescuer in times of crisis. I owe every page of this book to the human being that he is.
Introduction
This book postpones the discussion of Sartre’s and Levinas’s conceptions of the Other until its last chapter. Nevertheless, a large part of its motivation lies in the fact that the name of Jean-Paul Sartre conjures the proclamation that “hell is other people,” while Emmanuel Levinas is that name which reminds us that, in the end we are held “hostage” by the Other. Enough scholars have analyzed these positions, making clear how each harkens to those intellectual traditions in which Sartre and Levinas are situated, respectively. Nevertheless, the curious relation between these two claims has always struck me as loaded with implications that far exceed the explanation pertaining to the difference between the existentialist and poststructuralist camps. Can the recognition of my being hostage to the Other also underscore the sense of hell brought on in that concrete moment of Sartrean intersubjectivity? Why would the trauma imbedded in the Levinasian claim no