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In his iconic essay "Violence and Metaphysics," Jacques Derrida writes that "…the thought of Emmanuel Levinas can make us tremble."¹ This deceptively simple statement demands infinite exegetical and herme-neutical attention, not only for the sake of a careful theoretical interpretation, inquiring into the meaning of a trembling, or, as we would say today, an intense "somatic reaction" provoked by something as ethereal as a thinker's thought, but also for the purpose of allowing ourselves to be more thoroughly shaken — both practically and theoretically — by placing ourselves right at the epicenter of the tremors eradiating from Levinas's philosophical tour de force. Wishing to live up to this demand, we must be capable of experiencing the gravity of the exceptional thought, which, far from being immaterial, induces a violent response of trembling in the totality of our Being, affecting us "body and soul." More precisely, the questions that crop up along the hermeneutical lines Derrida's characterization already anticipates are: Who or what trembles in us when we are exposed to the unsettling thought of Levinas? In what ways and across what channels are its reverberations transmitted to everything and everyone it touches, from the philosophical tradition it destabilizes to the readers who come across it? How to interpret the effects it can have on our bodies and minds, leveling the distinction between the two? And, finally, what is the sense of ethical potentiality inherent in this modal verb devoid of potency or power?

DOI: 10.1057/9781137333735_4

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