Levinas - The Levinas Reader (ed Hand)

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Introduction 7sacred histor rather than an epistemological one. The 'Here I am!' is theplace through which the Infinite enters without delivering itself up tovision. In the Jewish Revelation, the freedom of Being becomes the 'difficultfreedom' of the ethical 'Here I am!', an open greeting based on adeferring to a towards-God, an a-Dieu. Levinas is not afraid to use the termGod to designate this ethical exigency: invisible, infinite, non-thematizableand irreducible to intentionality. But God is not an absolute rule; rather, He'comes to the idea' as the absolute alterity revealed in the sacredness of theface-to-face relation. It is in this sense, as a revelation depending on anabsolute ethical Law, which is never experienced as a stigma or enslavement,that the meontological subjectivity unfolded in Levinas's philosophycould be called Judaic, obedience to the Most High by way of the ethicalrelationship with the Other. The individual is not just Dasein; he is also thesite of transcendence, responding to the unfulfillable obligation of theRevelation. Sacred history, fidelity to the commandments of the Torah,roints beyond ontology in affirming how being-for-itself is conditional on theunconditioned responsibility of being-for-the-other. Torah is anterior to being(see chapters 12 to 14 below).This solicitation of phenomenology by sacred history is part of an anarchicsignifying practice. This means Levinas can quote Psalm 82 to shakethe foundations of ontology with the primordial necessity of justice, or readthe inhabitants of Canaan as a comment on the Heideggerian order. 7 But,equally, it means that the question of institutional justice and the politics ofthe modern state are at the heart of first philosophy as they are at the heartof the Talmud. Otherwise than Being or Beyond Essence is therefore dedicatedfor quite fundamental reasons 'to the memory of those who wereclosest among the six million assassinated by the National Socialists, and ofthe millions on millions of all confessions and all nations, victims of thesame hatred of the other man, the same anti-semitism.' Political selfaffirmationmeans from the outset a responsibility for all. Levinas thereforeviews the state of Israel as the possibility of going beyond realpolitik and thedangers inherent in idealism towards the embodiment of a truly propheticmorality. The tension between identity and assimilation in a modern statewhose monotheistic politics are those of a chosen and persecuted people isto be transcended ultimately by the original responsibility beyond anyuniversalism, an ethically necessary politics that will mark the end of suchconcepts as assimilation and identity, together with the possibility of totalitarianismwhich they to some degree indicate and preserve (see chapters 15to 18).This moral combat, based on peace for the other, is one more indicationof the radical challenge to thought posed by the philosophy of Levinas. Inthe age of Auschwitz, Levinas shows that to be or not to be is not the
8 Introductionultimate question: it is but a commentary on the better than being, theinfinite demand of the ethical relation.NOTES1 Jacques Derrida, 'Violence and Metaphysics' in Writing and Difference, trans.Alan Bass (London and Henley: Roudedge and Kegan Paul, 1978), p. 82.2 Ethics and Infinity, trans. Richard A. Cohen (Pittsburgh: Duquesne UniversityPress, 1985), pp. 39-41.3 The Theory of Intuition, trans. Andre Orianne (Evanston: Northwestern UniversityPress, 1973), p. 155.4 Martin Heidegger, Being and Time (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1962), p. 68.5 'Beyond Intentionality' in Philosophy in France Today , edited by Alan Montefiore(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), pp. ll2-13.6 Otherwise than Being or Beyond Essence, trans. Alphonso Lingis (The Hague:Martinus Nijhoff, 1981), p. 5.7 Quatre lectures talmudiques (Paris: Editions Minuit, 1968) p. 129.
Page 1 and 2: TheLevinas ReaderEmmanuel LevinasED
Page 3 and 4: ContentsPrefaceAcknowledgementsvvuI
Page 5 and 6: PrefaceEmmanuel Levinas is one of t
Page 7: AcknowledgementsThe editor and publ
Page 10 and 11: Introduction 3world. Dasein is thus
Page 12 and 13: Introduction 5me an individual 'I'.
Page 16 and 17: PART IFrom Existence to Ethics
Page 18 and 19: 12 From existence to ethics['Etrang
Page 21 and 22: The phenomenological theory of bein
Page 31: The phenomenological theory of bein
Page 38 and 39: 32 From existence to ethicsname the
Page 40 and 41: 34 From existence to ethicsmurther
Page 42 and 43: 36 Prom existence to ethicsNOTE1 Ma
Page 44 and 45: 38 Prom existence to ethicsThe use
Page 46 and 47: 40 From existence to ethicsmerges w
Page 48 and 49: 42 From existence to ethicsDunsinan
Page 50: 44 From existence to ethicsBergson1
Page 53 and 54: Time and the other 47initiative. Th
Page 55 and 56: Time and the other 49Neither is the
Page 57 and 58: Time and the otherSIupon here - vol
Page 59 and 60: Time and the other 53logical value,
Page 61 and 62: Time and the other 557 ['If] I brea
Page 63 and 64: Time and the other 57here an allusi
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4Martin Buber and the Theory ofKnow
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Martin Buber and the theory of know
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5Ethics as First PhilosophyPublishe
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Ethics as first philosophy 77his Th
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Ethics as first philosophy 79Husser
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Ethics as first philosophy 81probab
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Ethics as first philosophy 83cover
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Ethics as first philosophy 85the ot
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Ethics as first philosophy 87Spirit
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Substitution89Ich bin du, wennich i
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Substitution 91everything that is i
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Substitution 93as in exile. It will
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Substitution9Splays, in order that
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Substitution 97oneself contributes
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Substitution 99against the walls of
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Substitution 101ted one who does no
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Substitution 103But how does the pa
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Substitution 105exactly, of which i
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Substitution 107this entity. Substi
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Substitution 109the other, turns in
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Substitution 111than any inertia, i
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Substitution 113confirms its electi
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Substitution 115to open an unlimite
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Substitution 117of the subject is a
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Substitution 119neglect all the det
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Substitution 121There is question o
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Substitution 123reverting into suff
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Substitution 125for it. Value in it
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7Reality and Its ShadowPublished in
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Reality and its shadow 131does in a
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Reality and its shadow 133subject i
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Reality and its shadow 135these dev
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Reality and its shadow 137The notio
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Reality and its shadow 139liberty,
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Reality and its shadow 141longed li
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Reality and its shadow 143half the
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The transcendence of words 145of Bi
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The transcendence of words 147objec
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The transcendence of words 149lette
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The servant and her master 151the r
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The servant and her 17Ulster 153Mid
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The servant and her master 155futur
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The servant and her master 157know
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The servant and her master 159call
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The other in Proust 161The timeless
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The other in Proust 163while remain
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The other in Proust 165Marcel's lov
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God and philosophy 167For a full ac
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God and philosophy 169In fact, in s
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God and philosophy 171apperception
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God and philosophy 173The bearers o
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God and philosophy 175Infinite ther
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God and philosophy 179just this emi
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God and philosophy 181responsibilit
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God and philosophy 183wardness. Sin
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God and philosophy 185In sketching
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God and philosophy 187NOTES1 Cf. Ot
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God and philosophy 18921 The-one-fo
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Revelation in the Jewish traditionT
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Revelation in the Jewish tradition
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Revelation in he Jewish tradition 2
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13The PactPublished in L'Au-Dela du
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The pact 213fellows, surely this st
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The pact 215neighbour's property),
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The pact 217thereon all the words o
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The pact 219I am sure that some peo
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The pact 221our text distinguishes
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The pact 223discussion of the Law o
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The pact 225of responsibility. The
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14Prayer Without DemandPublished in
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Prayer without demand 229problemati
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Prayer without demand 231him to dis
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Prayer without demand 233der and ad
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15Ideology and Idealism'Ideology an
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Ideology and idealism 237shameful.
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Ideology and idealism 239the subjec
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Ideology and idealism 241Has scienc
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Ideology and idealism 243approached
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Ideology and idealism 245others wit
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Ideology and idealism 247is mention
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16Difficult FreedomThe title 'Diffi
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l)icull jTeedor.n 251trine and cont
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Difficult freedom 253difficult to d
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Difficult freedom 255which this tra
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Difficult freedom 257that has seen
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Difficult freedom 259morality. The
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Difficult freedom 261established by
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Difficult freedom 263principles and
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Difficult freedOm 265accept one's o
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17ZionismsThe following three essay
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Zionisms 269consent to it, and does
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Zionisms 271for you.' The (scroll)
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Zionisms 273exercise dominion over
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Zionisms 275terms of political acti
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Zionisms 277patient endurance, Isra
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Zionisms 279on the moon, though no
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Zionisms 281exposed to persecution
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Zionisms 283longer irreparable. So
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Zionisms 285The value-judgment that
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Zionisms 287Of the 613 commandments
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18Ethics and PoliticsOn 14 Septembe
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Ethics and politics 291inflicted on
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Ethics and politics 293However, the
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Ethics and politics 295politics, bu
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Ethics and politics 297argument - t
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Glossary 299HaskalahHiddushimHittel
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BibliographyThe standard bibliograp
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Bibliography 303CX, 15-17.'Levy-Bru
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Bibliography 305'Le
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Bibliography 307Chalier, Catherine,
Page 311 and 312:
Index 309fecundity, 38, 52-4feminin
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IndexWahlf J., 37, 137wakefulness,
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