The Levinas Reader

Emmanuel Levinas has served as Professor of Philosophy at the Sorbonne and as the director of the École Normale Israélite Orientale. Through significant works like Totality and Infinity and Otherwise than Being, he has profoundly influenced twentieth-century continental philosophy, inspiring thinkers such as 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. These include early phenomenological studies crafted under the guidance and inspiration of Husserl and Heidegger, as well as the fully developed ethical critique of totalizing philosophies.

The book features pioneering texts addressing the moral dimension to aesthetics, along with rich and subtle readings of the Talmud, exemplifying an ethical, transcendental philosophy in practice. Furthermore, it contains admirable meditations on current political issues.

Sean Hand's introduction provides a comprehensive overview of Levinas's work, situating each chapter within his overall contributions to phenomenology, aesthetics, religion, politics, and, above all, ethics. Each essay is prefaced with a brief introduction, presenting the basic issues and necessary background, and suggesting ways to further study the text.