Beyond Power: The Transcendental Concept of Diaspora

Abstract

The journey to a new land – a powerless world, the path to which is paved by a minority war, fueled by «unfaithful loyalty» to Levinas. To accomplish this journey, Laruelle turns to the identification of power and being. The revenge of Being carried out by Levinas is conceived in favor of the Existing and later redefined by Laruelle as the Essence or One. Running between being and power, this branching path to another world converges in a solution that privileges transversality. Which means: to make sure that the Other does not return to Being. The One (Essence), according to Laruelle, ensures the dispersed nature of the Other. For Levinas the Essence (the One) is monolithic and identical, for Laruelle it simultaneously remains itself (unilaterally) and at the same time dissipates, «producing» otherness. In other words, to reveal the producing power of the Essence or the One, a power that does not allow otherness to be confined within any boundaries, including national ones. Laruelle is looking for the possibility of conceiving multiplicity without inventing a new ontology and a new totality with the dictates of the Other; «generalize» Judaism so that it is redundant to itself, corresponding to its essence. In the article, Laruelle implicitly formulates the principles of the diaspora, which alone is capable of bringing true redemption to the world.

Translation from French edited by Nikita Arkhipov