SAMUEL MOYN
Transcendence, Morality, and History: Emmanuel Levinas and the Discovery of Soren Kierkegaardin France [I]nFrancehe is all but unknown... [yet]Kierkegaard'sideas are fated to play a greatrole in the spiritual development of mankind. It is true that this role is of a special kind. He will hardlybe accepted among the classics of philosophy . .. but his thought will find a place, unseen, in the hearts of men. -Lev Shestovl When she asked why I had chosen Kierkegaardas an object of study and I replied that I did not know, Rachel Bespaloffsaid: "Butdon't you realize? It is because you are a Jew." -Jean Wahl2
INTRODUCTION To judgefrom his postwar essays on the subject, Emmanuel Levinas rejected the founder of existentialism with no little irritation. Where Soren Kierkegaardinterpreted Isaac'sbinding, in Fear and Trembling, as a parableabout the role of faith in taking the self beyond the merely ethical stage, Levinas suggested that it is not Abraham'shand, ready to bring the knife to his son's throat, but instead "Abraham'sear for hearing the voice" that best captures the intent of the biblical story. It "broughthim back to the ethical order."As Levinas explained it: "That [Abraham]obeyed the first voice is astonishing: that he had sufficient
1. Lev Shestov, Kierkegaardet la philosophie existentielle (Vox clamantis in deserto) (Paris:Vrin,1936),35-36. Throughoutthis article, all translationsaremy own, unless indicated otherwise.
2. JeanWahl, "Discours de cl6ture," in Eliane Amado-Valensiand Jean Halperin, eds., La conscience juive. Donnees et debats: Textes des trois premiers Colloques d'intellectuels juifs de langue francaise organisespar la Section francaise du Congresjuif mondial (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1963), 225.
YFS104, Encounterswith Levinas, ed. Thomas Trezise, ? 2004 by YaleUniversity.
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