Can the Sovereign be Touched (by Himself)? Power and the Haptic in Jacques Derrida
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.ef.360853Keywords:
touching, power, sovereignty, haptic, passivityAbstract
This paper examines the relationship between power (sovereignty) and the haptic in the work of Jacques Derrida. It argues that Derrida’s critique of the continuist postulate within the phenomenological tradition reveals a double bind between touch and power, which structures the essay in two movements. First, the analysis locates power within the phenomenal field of the haptic, underscoring its dependence on a constitutive passivity tied to the advent or mediation of the Other. Second, it deconstructs the classical concept of sovereignty—predicated on indivisible and autonomous ipseity—to demonstrate its reliance on a generic hapticity that feminizes all it touches to consolidate its dominion and territorialize the other. The conclusion asserts that rethinking the distribution of the sensible and reconfiguring passivity are necessary conditions for enabling new experiences of an alternative form of power.
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