« Principe barbare » et « Il y a ». Lecture croisée : Merleau-Ponty et Levinas

“The final task of phenomenology as a philosophy of consciousness,” Merleau-Ponty wrote, “is to understand its relationship with non-phenomenology. That which resists phenomenology in us – natural being, the ‘barbaric principle’ of which Schelling spoke – cannot remain extra-phenomenal and must have its place within it.” The barbaric principle (Schelling read by Merleau-Ponty), and the there is (the il y a of Levinas) – such is the confrontation that must be attempted here. Far from remaining simply pre-reflexive or presupposing the signified, the Nietzschean ‘abyss’ (Abgrund), even more radical than the Schellingian ‘groundless ground’ (Urgrund), is an invitation for us today to probe what could also stand ‘outside the phenomenon’ (hors-phénomène).