The Levinas Reader (Blackwell Readers)

Emmanuel Levinas has been Professor of Philosophy at the Sorbonne and the director of the Ecole Normale Israelite Orientale. Through such works as "Totality and Infinity" and "Otherwise than Being", he has exerted a profound influence on twentieth-century continental philosophy, providing inspiration for Derrida, Lyotard, Blanchot and Irigaray. "The Levinas Reader" collects, often for the first time in English, essays by Levinas encompassing every aspect of his thought: the early phenomenological studies written under the guidance and inspiration of Husserl and Heidegger; the fully developed ethical critique of such totalizing philosophies; the pioneering texts on the moral dimension to aesthetics; the rich and subtle readings of the Talmud which are an exemplary model of an ethical, transcendental philosophy at work; the admirable meditations on current political issues. Sean Hand's introduction gives a complete overview of Levinas's work and situates each chapter within his general contribution to phenomenology, aesthetics, religion, politics and, above all, ethics. Each essay has been prefaced with a brief introduction presenting the basic issues and the necessary background, and suggesting ways to study the text further. Emmanuel Levinas has been Professor of Philosophy at the Sorbonne and the director of the Ecole Normale Israelite Orientale. Through such works as "Totality and Infinity" and "Otherwise than Being", he has exerted a profound influence on twentieth-century continental philosophy, providing inspiration for Derrida, Lyotard, Blanchot and Irigaray. "The Levinas Reader" collects, often for the first time in English, essays by Levinas encompassing every aspect of his thought: the early phenomenological studies written under the guidance and inspiration of Husserl and Heidegger; the fully developed ethical critique of such totalizing philosophies; the pioneering texts on the moral dimension to aesthetics; the rich and subtle readings of the Talmud which are an exemplary model of an ethical, transcendental philosophy at work; the admirable meditations on current political issues. Sean Hand's introduction gives a complete overview of Levinas's work and situates each chapter within his general contribution to phenomenology, aesthetics, religion, politics and, above all, ethics. Each essay has been prefaced with a brief introduction presenting the basic issues and the necessary background, and suggesting ways to study the text further. -- Back cover Table of Contents......Page 3 Preface.......Page 5 Acknowledgements.......Page 7 Introduction.......Page 8 Part I: From Existence to Ethics:.......Page 16 1. The Phenomenological Theory of Being.......Page 17 2. There is: Existence without Existents.......Page 35 3. Time and the Other.......Page 43 4. Martin Buber and the Theory of Knowledge.......Page 65 5. Ethics as First Philosophy.......Page 81 6. Substitution.......Page 94 Part II: Reading Writing, Revolution, or Aesthetics, Religion, Politics, Aesthetics:.......Page 132 7. Reality and its Shadow.......Page 133 8. The Transcendence of Words.......Page 148 9. The Servant and her Master.......Page 154 10. The Other Proust: Religion.......Page 164 11. God and Philosophy.......Page 170 12. Revelation in the Jewish Tradition.......Page 192 13. The Pact.......Page 213 14. Prayer without Demand. Politics.......Page 229 15. Ideology and Idealism.......Page 237 16. Difficult Freedom.......Page 251 17. Zionisms.......Page 269 18. Ethics and Politics.......Page 291 Glossary.......Page 300 Bibliography.......Page 303 Index.......Page 310 Collects essays by Levinas encompassing every aspect of his thought: the early phenomenological studies; the fully developed ethical critique of such totalizing philosophies; and the pioneering texts on the moral dimension to aesthetics. 'The Phenolmenological Theory of Beings: the Absolute Existence of Consciousness' is taken from Levinas's first book, La theorie de I'intuition dans la phenomenologie de Husserl (Paris: Alcan), published in 1930. Emmanuel Levinas; Edited By Seán Hand. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [301]-307) And Index.