Emmanuel Levinas Flashcards
(44 cards)
Where and when was Emmanuel Levinas born?
1905 in Kaunas, Lithuania (then part of pre-Revolutionary Russia) to a Jewish family.
Which two major philosophers did Levinas study with in Freiburg?
Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger (attended his seminars in 1928-29).
What significant political analysis did Levinas publish in 1934?
A philosophical analysis of “Hitlerism,” critiquing its totalitarian ideology.
How was Levinas affected during WWII?
Captured by Nazis in 1940 and imprisoned in a labor camp for French officers (his family perished in the Holocaust).
What are Levinas’ two magnum opus works?
1) “Totality and Infinity” (1961), 2) “Otherwise than Being or Beyond Essence” (1974).
What traditional view of ethics does Levinas challenge?
That ethics is secondary - derived from religion (pre-modern) or philosophy (modern).
What is Levinas’ concept of “ethics as first philosophy”?
The claim that ethical responsibility precedes all philosophical systems and ontological inquiry.
How does Levinas characterize the human subject’s primordial state?
Always already in relation to the Other, not as an isolated, self-interested being (contra Hobbes).
What is the significance of the “face” (visage) in Levinas’ philosophy?
The face-to-face encounter reveals the Other’s vulnerability, making an infinite ethical demand on me.
How does Levinas describe our responsibility to the Other?
Absolute, infinite, and unconditional - not based on reciprocity or rational calculation.
What does Levinas mean by the “wholly Other” (tout autre)?
The Other cannot be reduced to my categories or understanding; it transcends all thematization.
How does Levinas reconfigure subjectivity?
From nominative (“I” as autonomous) to accusative (“me” as always already responsible).
What is Levinas’ critique of traditional anthropology?
Rejects the fiction of humans as primordially neutral/self-interested; we are always ethically constituted
Why does Levinas claim philosophy inevitably “betrays” ethics?
Systematic thought (the Said) cannot capture the lived ethical relation (Saying) without reduction.
What institution did Levinas direct from 1947?
École Normale Israélite Orientale in Paris, a Jewish teachers’ training college.
How does Levinas’ Jewish identity influence his philosophy?
His Talmudic studies inform concepts like infinite responsibility (echoing “Hineni” - “Here I am”).
What is Levinas’ view of ethical systems/kantian duty?
They come after the primordial ethical relation; rules are secondary to the face-to-face encounter.
How does Levinas interpret Descartes’ “idea of the infinite”?
As evidence that the subject is always already in relation to what exceeds it (the Other).
What is the distinction between “Saying” (Dire) and “Said” (Dit)?
Saying is the pre-linguistic ethical relation; the Said is its thematization in language/systems.
Why does Levinas reject “totality” in “Totality and Infinity”?
Totalizing systems reduce the Other to sameness; ethics requires respecting radical alterity
What academic positions did Levinas hold?
Professor at Université Paris-Nanterre (1967) and Sorbonne (1973), alongside Paul Ricœur.
How does Levinas’ ethics differ from utilitarianism?
Rejects calculability - my duty to the Other isn’t measurable or comparable to others’ needs.
What is the significance of Levinas’ term “hostage”?
Describes being ethically bound to the Other beyond choice, as if taken hostage by their demand.
How does Levinas critique Heidegger’s ontology?
Claims Being-centered philosophy neglects the prior ethical relation that makes meaning possible.
