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Collected Philosophical Papers
This collection, now available in an affordable paperback edition, contains eleven of the most significant articles written by Emmanuel Levinas. This volume includes "Reality and its Shadow," "The Ego and the Totality," "Philosophy and the Idea of Infinity," "Meaning and Sense," "Humanism and An-archy," "God and Philosophy" and "Transcendence and Evil," among others. An excellent overview of Levinas's ideas and philosophy. Each of the theses represented in this collection is further explored and developed in Levinas's Otherwise than Being, or Beyond Essence.
- GenresPhilosophy
218 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1899
About the author
Emmanuel Levinas
152 books430 followersEmanuelis Levinas (later adapted to French orthography as Emmanuel Levinas) received a traditional Jewish education in Lithuania. After WWII, he studied the Talmud under the enigmatic "Monsieur Chouchani", whose influence he acknowledged only late in his life.
Levinas began his philosophical studies at Strasbourg University in 1924, where he began his lifelong friendship with the French philosopher Maurice Blanchot. In 1928, he went to Freiburg University to study phenomenology under Edmund Husserl. At Freiburg he also met Martin Heidegger. Levinas became one of the very first French intellectuals to draw attention to Heidegger and Husserl, by translating Husserl's Cartesian Meditations and by drawing on their ideas in his own philosophy, in works such as his The Theory of Intuition in Husserl’s Phenomenology, De l'Existence à l'Existant, and En Découvrant l’Existence avec Husserl et Heidegger.
According to his obituary in New York Times,[1] Levinas came to regret his enthusiasm for Heidegger, because of the latter's affinity for the Nazis. During a lecture on forgiveness, Levinas stated "One can forgive many Germans, but there are some Germans it is difficult to forgive. It is difficult to forgive Heidegger."[2]
After earning his doctorate Levinas taught at a private Jewish High School in Paris, the École Normale Israélite Orientale, eventually becoming its director. He began teaching at the University of Poitiers in 1961, at the Nanterre campus of the University of Paris in 1967, and at the Sorbonne in 1973, from which he retired in 1979. He was also a Professor at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. In 1989 he was awarded the Balzan Prize for Philosophy.
Among his most famous students is Rabbi Baruch Garzon from Tetouan (Morocco), who learnt Philosophy with Levinas at the Sorbonne and later went on to become one of the most important Rabbis of the Spanish-speaking world.
In the 1950s, Levinas emerged from the circle of intellectuals surrounding Jean Wahl as a leading French thinker. His work is based on the ethics of the Other or, in Levinas' terms, on "ethics as first philosophy". For Levinas, the Other is not knowable and cannot be made into an object of the self, as is done by traditional metaphysics (which Lévinas called "ontology"). Lévinas prefers to think of philosophy as the "wisdom of love" rather than the love of wisdom (the literal Greek meaning of the word "philosophy"). By his lights, ethics becomes an entity independent of subjectivity to the point where ethical responsibility is integral to the subject; hence an ethics of responsibility precedes any "objective searching after truth".
Levinas derives the primacy of his ethics from the experience of the encounter with the Other. For Levinas, the irreducible relation, the epiphany, of the face-to-face, the encounter with another, is a privileged phenomenon in which the other person's proximity and distance are both strongly felt. "The Other precisely reveals himself in his alterity not in a shock negating the I, but as the primordial phenomenon of gentleness."[3]. At the same time, the revelation of the face makes a demand, this demand is before one can express, or know one's freedom, to affirm or deny.[4] One instantly recognizes the transcendence and heteronomy of the Other. Even murder fails as an attempt to take hold of this otherness.
In Levinas's later thought following "Totality and Infinity", he argued that our responsibility for the other was already rooted within our subjective constitution. It should be noted that the first line of the preface of this book is "everyone will readily agree that it is of the highest importance to know whether we are not duped by morality."[5] This can be seen most clearly in his later account of recurrence (chapter 4 in "Otherwise Than Being"), where Levinas maintai
Levinas began his philosophical studies at Strasbourg University in 1924, where he began his lifelong friendship with the French philosopher Maurice Blanchot. In 1928, he went to Freiburg University to study phenomenology under Edmund Husserl. At Freiburg he also met Martin Heidegger. Levinas became one of the very first French intellectuals to draw attention to Heidegger and Husserl, by translating Husserl's Cartesian Meditations and by drawing on their ideas in his own philosophy, in works such as his The Theory of Intuition in Husserl’s Phenomenology, De l'Existence à l'Existant, and En Découvrant l’Existence avec Husserl et Heidegger.
According to his obituary in New York Times,[1] Levinas came to regret his enthusiasm for Heidegger, because of the latter's affinity for the Nazis. During a lecture on forgiveness, Levinas stated "One can forgive many Germans, but there are some Germans it is difficult to forgive. It is difficult to forgive Heidegger."[2]
After earning his doctorate Levinas taught at a private Jewish High School in Paris, the École Normale Israélite Orientale, eventually becoming its director. He began teaching at the University of Poitiers in 1961, at the Nanterre campus of the University of Paris in 1967, and at the Sorbonne in 1973, from which he retired in 1979. He was also a Professor at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. In 1989 he was awarded the Balzan Prize for Philosophy.
Among his most famous students is Rabbi Baruch Garzon from Tetouan (Morocco), who learnt Philosophy with Levinas at the Sorbonne and later went on to become one of the most important Rabbis of the Spanish-speaking world.
In the 1950s, Levinas emerged from the circle of intellectuals surrounding Jean Wahl as a leading French thinker. His work is based on the ethics of the Other or, in Levinas' terms, on "ethics as first philosophy". For Levinas, the Other is not knowable and cannot be made into an object of the self, as is done by traditional metaphysics (which Lévinas called "ontology"). Lévinas prefers to think of philosophy as the "wisdom of love" rather than the love of wisdom (the literal Greek meaning of the word "philosophy"). By his lights, ethics becomes an entity independent of subjectivity to the point where ethical responsibility is integral to the subject; hence an ethics of responsibility precedes any "objective searching after truth".
Levinas derives the primacy of his ethics from the experience of the encounter with the Other. For Levinas, the irreducible relation, the epiphany, of the face-to-face, the encounter with another, is a privileged phenomenon in which the other person's proximity and distance are both strongly felt. "The Other precisely reveals himself in his alterity not in a shock negating the I, but as the primordial phenomenon of gentleness."[3]. At the same time, the revelation of the face makes a demand, this demand is before one can express, or know one's freedom, to affirm or deny.[4] One instantly recognizes the transcendence and heteronomy of the Other. Even murder fails as an attempt to take hold of this otherness.
In Levinas's later thought following "Totality and Infinity", he argued that our responsibility for the other was already rooted within our subjective constitution. It should be noted that the first line of the preface of this book is "everyone will readily agree that it is of the highest importance to know whether we are not duped by morality."[5] This can be seen most clearly in his later account of recurrence (chapter 4 in "Otherwise Than Being"), where Levinas maintai
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June 9, 2026
I've been chewing on these essays since end of March, and will continue to work with a few for my book project. I also referenced this work extensively when I wrote my Dissertation on Merleau-Ponty (2001-03).
If you're new to Levinas' work I'd start with Ethics and Infinity, the interviews with Phillipe Nemo, but a good starting point is also "Philosophy and the Idea of Infinity" (1954) and "Meaning and Sense" (1972). I won't summarize all the essays or Levinas' work. Suffice to say these essays range from roughly 1948 to 1978--so you can follow the gradual shift in terminology and the development of the language from 'face,' 'expression,' etc. (Totality and Infinity) to 'the neighbor' 'proximity' etc. (Otherwise than Being).
NOTE: "Meaning and Sense," "Humanism and An-archy" and "No Identity" comprise Humanism of the Other, the articles translated by Nidra Poller. Unless you care that much about Richard Cohen's Introduction, I would use these translations by Alphonso Lingis/ purchase this book since his translations of Totality and Infinity and Otherwise than Being are still the industry standard.
My only compliant about the book--for all the work that goes into these translations, I wish the French words were indicated more frequently. The difference between signification/ sense, autre/ autrui in particularly-- I don't want to assume 'sens' is always translated as 'meaning' or that 'other/ Other' translates autre/ autrui in all instances. I mean, sure, I should be able to read this in French (and once upon a time I could), but more explicit information on how the French is being rendered into English would help.
There are also some glaring proofreading errors. In one place 'with' should be 'without' . . . another place, it looks footnote 3 comes after two different sentences? Were two versions of the translation in the page proofs and one never was cut? Incorrect punctuation (when its even there).
Levinas is difficult enough to read as it is. Often I have to over-punctuate the sentences to actually find the noun and the verb among all the subordinate clauses and parenthetical remarks.
But Levinas' work is worth the difficulty. And we owe a HUGE debt to Alphonso Lingis for making much of his work available in English so I can't give anything other than 5-stars.
If you're new to Levinas' work I'd start with Ethics and Infinity, the interviews with Phillipe Nemo, but a good starting point is also "Philosophy and the Idea of Infinity" (1954) and "Meaning and Sense" (1972). I won't summarize all the essays or Levinas' work. Suffice to say these essays range from roughly 1948 to 1978--so you can follow the gradual shift in terminology and the development of the language from 'face,' 'expression,' etc. (Totality and Infinity) to 'the neighbor' 'proximity' etc. (Otherwise than Being).
NOTE: "Meaning and Sense," "Humanism and An-archy" and "No Identity" comprise Humanism of the Other, the articles translated by Nidra Poller. Unless you care that much about Richard Cohen's Introduction, I would use these translations by Alphonso Lingis/ purchase this book since his translations of Totality and Infinity and Otherwise than Being are still the industry standard.
My only compliant about the book--for all the work that goes into these translations, I wish the French words were indicated more frequently. The difference between signification/ sense, autre/ autrui in particularly-- I don't want to assume 'sens' is always translated as 'meaning' or that 'other/ Other' translates autre/ autrui in all instances. I mean, sure, I should be able to read this in French (and once upon a time I could), but more explicit information on how the French is being rendered into English would help.
There are also some glaring proofreading errors. In one place 'with' should be 'without' . . . another place, it looks footnote 3 comes after two different sentences? Were two versions of the translation in the page proofs and one never was cut? Incorrect punctuation (when its even there).
Levinas is difficult enough to read as it is. Often I have to over-punctuate the sentences to actually find the noun and the verb among all the subordinate clauses and parenthetical remarks.
But Levinas' work is worth the difficulty. And we owe a HUGE debt to Alphonso Lingis for making much of his work available in English so I can't give anything other than 5-stars.
Displaying 1 of 1 review