Emmanuel Levinas Quotes
Emmanuel Levinas was a 20th-century Lithuanian-born French Jewish philosopher of the phenomenological and ethical tradition, one of the most influential figures of late 20th-century continental philosophy. Trained under Husserl and Heidegger, whose work he was instrumental in introducing to the French-speaking world, he developed in his major works Totality and Infinity (1961) and Otherwise than Being (1974) an ethics of radical responsibility for the Other, prior to and grounding all metaphysics. The quotes below are attributed to Emmanuel Levinas, organized by topic.
Browse Emmanuel Levinas by topic
Emmanuel Levinas on Death
-
“Fear for the Other, fear for the other man's death is my fear, but is in no way an individual's taking fright.”
The Levinas reader by Levinas, Emmanuel p. 84
Emmanuel Levinas on God
-
Attributed to Emmanuel Levinas:
“Religion is the bond between the same and the other without constituting a totality.”
-
Attributed to Emmanuel Levinas:
“The face of the other is the trace of the infinite.”
-
“To ignore the true God is in fact only half an evil; atheism is worth more than the piety bestowed on mythical gods.”
A Religion for Adults (1957) -
“A Religion for Adults (1957)”
To ignore the true God is in fact only half an evil; atheism is worth more than the piety bestowed on mythical gods. -
“The comprehension of God taken as a participation in his sacred life, an allegedly direct comprehension, is impossible, because participation is a denial of the divine , and because nothing is more direct than the face to face , which is straightforwardness itself.”
Totality and Infinity (1961) -
“The ego involved in responsibility is me and no one else, me with whom one whould have liked to pair up a sister soul, from whom one would have substitution and sacrifice.”
The Levinas reader by Levinas, Emmanuel p. 116
Emmanuel Levinas on Knowledge
-
“On the doctrine of prefiguration.”
If every pure character in the Old Testament announces the Messiah, if every unworthy person is his torturer and every woman his Mother, does not the Book of Books lose all life with this obsessive theme? -
“Persons or Figures (1950)”
If every pure character in the Old Testament announces the Messiah, if every unworthy person is his torturer and every woman his Mother, does not the Book of Books lose all life with this obsessive theme? -
“Totality and Infinity (1961)”
The moral consciousness can sustain the mocking gaze of the political man only if the certitude of peace dominates the evidence of war. Such a certitude is not obtained by a simple play of antitheses. The peace of empires issued from war rests on war. It does not restore to the alienated beings their lost identity. For that a primordial and original relation with being is needed. -
“Totality and Infinity (1961)”
The comprehension of God taken as a participation in his sacred life, an allegedly direct comprehension, is impossible, because participation is a denial of the divine , and because nothing is more direct than the face to face , which is straightforwardness itself. -
“The Theory Of Intuition In Husserls Phenomenology 1963, 1995 p. 9”
By asserting the objectivity of the physical world, naturalism identifies the existence and the conditions of existence of the physical world with existence and the conditions of existence in general. It forgets that the world of the physicist necessarily refers back, through its intrinsic meaning, through the subjective world which one tries to exclude from reality as being pure appearance, condi
Emmanuel Levinas on Life
-
“If every pure character in the Old Testament announces the Messiah, if every unworthy person is his torturer and every woman his Mother, does not the Book of Books lose all life with this obsessive theme?”
On the doctrine of prefiguration. | Persons or Figures (1950)
Emmanuel Levinas on Love
-
Attributed to Emmanuel Levinas:
“The face speaks to me and thereby invites me to a relation.”
Emmanuel Levinas on Mind
-
“The transition of the subject-object relation to that of the I-Thou implies a passage of consciousness to a new sphere of existence, viz, the interval, betweenness or Zwischen; and this is a passage from thought to Umfassung.”
The Levinas reader by Levinas, Emmanuel p. 73
Emmanuel Levinas on Politics
-
“The moral consciousness can sustain the mocking gaze of the political man only if the certitude of peace dominates the evidence of war. Such a certitude is not obtained by a simple play of antitheses. The peace of empires issued from war rests on war. It does not restore to the alienated beings their lost identity. For that a primordial and original relation with being is needed.”
Totality and Infinity (1961)
Emmanuel Levinas on Virtue
-
Attributed to Emmanuel Levinas:
“Ethics is first philosophy.”
-
Attributed to Emmanuel Levinas:
“The face of the Other commands me to responsibility.”
-
Attributed to Emmanuel Levinas:
“To be I is to have responsibility, as if I were the elected one.”
-
Attributed to Emmanuel Levinas:
“The other is not me, and I am responsible for him.”