Levinas and political theory

Political Theory

Volumn 32, Issue 2, 2004, Pages 146-171

  Fred Alford, C ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND   (United States)

Author keywords

Levinas; Liberalism; Political theory; Postmodern ethics

Indexed keywords

EID: 1842581426     PISSN: 00905917     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0090591703254977     Document Type: Article

References (89)

1. Levinas, Totality and Infinity: An Essay on Exteriority, trans. Alphonse Lingis (Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press, 1969), 300.
2. Levinas, Otherwise than Being; Or Beyond Essence, trans. Alphonse Lingis (Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press, 1998), 159. "l'Etat égalitaire et juste" is how Levinas puts it in the French original, Autrement qu'être ou au-delà de l'essence (Paris: Livre de Poche, 1990), 248. Levinas, Totality and Infinity, 21-30.
3. Levinas, Otherwise than Being; Or Beyond Essence, trans. Alphonse Lingis (Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press, 1998), 159. "l'Etat égalitaire et juste" is how Levinas puts it in the French original, Autrement qu'être ou au-delà de l'essence (Paris: Livre de Poche, 1990), 248. Levinas, Totality and Infinity, 21-30.
4. Levinas, Otherwise than Being; Or Beyond Essence, trans. Alphonse Lingis (Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press, 1998), 159. "l'Etat égalitaire et juste" is how Levinas puts it in the French original, Autrement qu'être ou au-delà de l'essence (Paris: Livre de Poche, 1990), 248. Levinas, Totality and Infinity, 21-30.
5. Adriaan Peperzak, To the Other: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas (West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 1993), 19.I am quoting Peperzak, not Levinas, but their views here (and generally) are identical.
6. "Cain-like coldness" in Emmanuel Levinas, Of God Who Comes to Mind, trans. Bettina Bergo (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1998), 71. "Transfer of sentiments," in Emmanuel Levinas, "Substitution," in Basic Philosophical Writings, ed. Adriaan Peperzak, Simon Critchley, and Robert Bernasconi (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1996), 79-96 at 91. Levinas cites Hobbes as an example of this way of thinking in the note (36) to this passage.
7. "Cain-like coldness" in Emmanuel Levinas, Of God Who Comes to Mind, trans. Bettina Bergo (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1998), 71. "Transfer of sentiments," in Emmanuel Levinas, "Substitution," in Basic Philosophical Writings, ed. Adriaan Peperzak, Simon Critchley, and Robert Bernasconi (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1996), 79-96 at 91. Levinas cites Hobbes as an example of this way of thinking in the note (36) to this passage.
8. Emmanuel Levinas, "Beyond the State in the State," in New Talmudic Readings, ed. Richard Cohen (Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press, 1999), 79-107. A couple of Levinas's articles on Israel can be found in a collection of mostly religious readings by Levinas titled Beyond the Verse: Talmudic Readings and Lectures, trans. G. Mole (London: Athlone, 1994).
9. Emmanuel Levinas, "Beyond the State in the State," in New Talmudic Readings, ed. Richard Cohen (Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press, 1999), 79-107. A couple of Levinas's articles on Israel can be found in a collection of mostly religious readings by Levinas titled Beyond the Verse: Talmudic Readings and Lectures, trans. G. Mole (London: Athlone, 1994).
10. Derrida comments on Levinas's distaste for cosmopolitanism in "Welcome," in Adieu to Emmanuel Levinas, trans. Pascale-Anne Brault and Michael Naas (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1999), 15-123 at 88. From time to time, Jews have been associated with cosmopolitanism, as though they were a people without sufficient loyalty to a place, what is called nationalism.
11. C. B. Macpherson, The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism: Hobbes to Locke (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1962), 3.
12. This is my version of Levinas's example in "Enigma and Phenomenon," in Basic Philosophical Writings, 65-78. Levinas is fond of images of dwellings and doors, as Derrida points out in "Welcome," 26-27. The story about answering the doorbell, as well as my comparison between Levinas and the Frankfurt School, are drawn from my recent book, Levinas, the Frankfurt School and Psychoanalysis (Wesleyan, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2002).
13. This is my version of Levinas's example in "Enigma and Phenomenon," in Basic Philosophical Writings, 65-78. Levinas is fond of images of dwellings and doors, as Derrida points out in "Welcome," 26-27. The story about answering the doorbell, as well as my comparison between Levinas and the Frankfurt School, are drawn from my recent book, Levinas, the Frankfurt School and Psychoanalysis (Wesleyan, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2002).
14. This is my version of Levinas's example in "Enigma and Phenomenon," in Basic Philosophical Writings, 65-78. Levinas is fond of images of dwellings and doors, as Derrida points out in "Welcome," 26-27. The story about answering the doorbell, as well as my comparison between Levinas and the Frankfurt School, are drawn from my recent book, Levinas, the Frankfurt School and Psychoanalysis (Wesleyan, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2002).
15. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, "Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality among Men" (Second Discourse), in The First and Second Discourses, trans. Roger Masters and Judith Masters (New York: St. Martin's, 1964), 77-228 at 150-51.
16. Levinas, Totality and Infinity, 134.
17. Sheldon Wolin, Politics and Vision (Boston: Little, Brown, 1960), 258; Levinas, Otherwise than Being, 81. Levinas uses the term narcissism frequently and casually, to capture humanity's utter self-centeredness in the state of nature. I use it in the same casual way here.
18. Sheldon Wolin, Politics and Vision (Boston: Little, Brown, 1960), 258; Levinas, Otherwise than Being, 81. Levinas uses the term narcissism frequently and casually, to capture humanity's utter self-centeredness in the state of nature. I use it in the same casual way here.
19. Levinas, Totality and Infinity, 172-73; quoted in Derrida, "Welcome," 96. The question Derrida raises for Levinas in this essay (Derrida has always raised the hardest questions for Levinas) is whether in the act of opening the door and welcoming the other I have appropriated the space on which the other stands. To receive another is to say "you are welcome in my place." But what makes it mine to begin with?
20. Levinas, Totality and Infinity, 172-73; quoted in Derrida, "Welcome," 96. The question Derrida raises for Levinas in this essay (Derrida has always raised the hardest questions for Levinas) is whether in the act of opening the door and welcoming the other I have appropriated the space on which the other stands. To receive another is to say "you are welcome in my place." But what makes it mine to begin with?
21. Levinas, "Substitution," in Basic Philosophical Writings, 79-96 at 91.
22. Levinas, Totality and Infinity, 302-4.
23. Ibid., 43.
24. Levinas, "Meaning and Sense," in Basic Philosophical Writings, 33-64 at 54.
25. Levinas, Totality and Infinity, 80.
26. Levinas, "Substitution," 90.
27. Levinas, Otherwise than Being, 69.
28. Levinas, Totality and Infinity, 25.
29. Ibid., 71. The statement is italicized in the original.
30. Levinas, "Transcendence and Height," in Basic Philosophical Writings, 11-31 at 23.
31. Levinas, Otherwise than Being, 157.
32. Levinas, "Peace and Proximity," in Basic Philosophical Writings, 161-69 at 169.
33. Ibid., 168.
34. Levinas, Totality and Infinity, 280. See too Otherwise than Being, 16, 160.
35. Levinas, Totality and Infinity, 280. See too Otherwise than Being, 16, 160.
36. Levinas, Otherwise than Being, 158; Simon Critchley, The Ethics of Deconstruction: Derrida and Levinas, 2d ed. (West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 1999), 46, 231; Ed Wingenbach, "Refusing the Temptation of Innocence: Levinasian Ethics as Political Theory," Strategies 12 (1999): 219-38 at 226-27.
37. Levinas, Otherwise than Being, 158; Simon Critchley, The Ethics of Deconstruction: Derrida and Levinas, 2d ed. (West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 1999), 46, 231; Ed Wingenbach, "Refusing the Temptation of Innocence: Levinasian Ethics as Political Theory," Strategies 12 (1999): 219-38 at 226-27.
38. Levinas, Otherwise than Being, 158; Simon Critchley, The Ethics of Deconstruction: Derrida and Levinas, 2d ed. (West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 1999), 46, 231; Ed Wingenbach, "Refusing the Temptation of Innocence: Levinasian Ethics as Political Theory," Strategies 12 (1999): 219-38 at 226-27.
39. Jeffrey Bloechl, "Ethics as First Philosophy and Religion," in The Face of the Other and the Trace of God: Essays on the Philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas, ed. Jeffrey Bloechl (New York: Fordham University Press), 130-51 at 143. Bloechl made a number of helpful comments on an earlier version of my manuscript.
40. Levinas, Otherwise than Being, 160.
41. Colin Davis, Levinas: An Introduction (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1996), 144. It is Davis, I believe, who first used the term "Levinas Effect."
42. Howard Caygill, "Levinas' Political Judgment: The Esprit Articles," Radical Philosophy 104 (November/December 2000): 6-15 at 7. All translations from the French are from Caygill.
43. Levinas, "Reflections on the Philosophy of Hitlerism," Critical Inquiry 17 (autumn 1990): 64-71, translated by Seán Hand.
44. Levinas, "Sur l'esprit de Geneve," in Les imprévus de l'histoire (Montpellier, France: Fata Morgana, 1994), 159-65 at 164.
45. Theodor Adorno, Negative Dialectics, trans. E. B. Ashton (New York: Seabury, 1973), 43; Martin Jay, Adorno (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1984), 68.
46. Theodor Adorno, Negative Dialectics, trans. E. B. Ashton (New York: Seabury, 1973), 43; Martin Jay, Adorno (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1984), 68.
47. Habermas, Theorie des kommunikativen Handelns (Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp, 1981), 1:512.
48. Howard Caygill, Levinas and the Political (London: Routledge, 2002), 159.
49. Levinas, "Heidegger, Gagarin and Us," in Difficult Freedom: Essays on Judaism, trans. Seán Hand (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1990), 231-34 at 233.
50. Levinas, Beyond the Verse, 187; Caygill, Levinas and the Political, 172.
51. Levinas, Beyond the Verse, 187; Caygill, Levinas and the Political, 172.
52. Levinas, "Ethics and Politics," in The Levinas Reader, ed. Seán Hand (Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 1989), 289-97 at 297.
53. Levinas, "Jewish Thought Today," in Difficult Freedom, 159-66 at 165.
54. Levinas, "Le Déat Russo-Chinois et la dialéctique," in Les imprévus de l'histoire (Montpellier, France: Fata Morgana, 1994), 171-72.
55. Levinas, Time and the Other, trans. Richard Cohen (Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press, 1987), 50.
56. Søren Kierkegaard, The Concept of Dread, trans. Walter Lowrie (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1957), 38.
57. Levinas, Time and the Other, 50.
58. Levinas, Ethics and Infinity: Conversations with Philippe Nemo, trans. Richard Cohen (Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press, 1985), 48.
59. Ibid., 59, author's emphasis.
60. Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, trans. Hazel Barnes (New York: Philosophical Library, 1956), 221-23; idem, Nausea, trans. Lloyd Alexander (New York: New Directions, 1964), 125-29.
61. Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, trans. Hazel Barnes (New York: Philosophical Library, 1956), 221-23; idem, Nausea, trans. Lloyd Alexander (New York: New Directions, 1964), 125-29.
62. Levinas, "There Is: Existence without Existents," in The Levinas Reader, 29-36 at 34.
63. Levinas, "Jewish Thought Today," 165.
64. John Rawls, A Theory of Justice (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971), 565; Michael Sandel, Liberalism and the Limits of Justice (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1982).
65. John Rawls, A Theory of Justice (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971), 565; Michael Sandel, Liberalism and the Limits of Justice (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1982).
66. Levinas, Otherwise than Being, 118.
67. Ibid., 111.
68. In Levinas and the Political, Caygill (pp. 3, 169) argues that Levinas is a republican, pointing out that fraternity is Levinas's core concern, as when Levinas writes about "a freedom in fraternity... through which the rights of man manifest themselves concretely to consciousness as the right of the other, for which I am answerable." In Emmanuel Levinas, Outside the Subject, trans. Michael B. Smith (London: Athlone, 1993), 125. But the fraternity about which Levinas writes has little to do with the fraternity of "liberty, equality, and fraternity," Not just because Levinas transforms fraternity from comradeship to solidarity with the victim, but because substitution is not fraternity, but a much more distant nearness. "A relation without relation," Levinas calls it, and that seems about right.
69. In Levinas and the Political, Caygill (pp. 3, 169) argues that Levinas is a republican, pointing out that fraternity is Levinas's core concern, as when Levinas writes about "a freedom in fraternity... through which the rights of man manifest themselves concretely to consciousness as the right of the other, for which I am answerable." In Emmanuel Levinas, Outside the Subject, trans. Michael B. Smith (London: Athlone, 1993), 125. But the fraternity about which Levinas writes has little to do with the fraternity of "liberty, equality, and fraternity," Not just because Levinas transforms fraternity from comradeship to solidarity with the victim, but because substitution is not fraternity, but a much more distant nearness. "A relation without relation," Levinas calls it, and that seems about right.
70. In Levinas's 1990 preface to "Reflections on the Philosophy of Hitlerism" (p. 63), quoted in Annabel Herzog's "Is Liberalism 'All We Need' ? Levinas's Politics of Surplus," Political Theory 30, no. 2 (2002): 204-27. In thinking through Levinas's liberalism, I have been helped by Herzog.
71. In Levinas's 1990 preface to "Reflections on the Philosophy of Hitlerism" (p. 63), quoted in Annabel Herzog's "Is Liberalism 'All We Need' ? Levinas's Politics of Surplus," Political Theory 30, no. 2 (2002): 204-27. In thinking through Levinas's liberalism, I have been helped by Herzog.
72. Levinas, Totality and Infinity, 213.
73. Levinas, Ethics and Infinity, 99.
74. Paul Ricoeur, The Symbolism of Evil, trans. Emerson Buchanan (Boston: Beacon, 1967), 54-62 at 59-61.
75. Edith Wyschogrod, Emmanuel Levinas: The Problem of Ethical Metaphysics, 2d ed. (New York: Fordham University Press, 2000), xiii.
76. "Levinas, Transcendence and Height," in Basic Philosophical Writings, 24, his emphasis.
77. Bloechl, "Ethics as First Philosophy," 144.
78. Critchley, Ethics of Deconstruction, 235.
79. Levinas, Otherwise than Being, 165.
80. Levinas, "Dialogue on Thinking-of-the-Other," in Entre nous: On Thinking-of-the-Other, trans. Michael B. Smith and Barbara Harshav (New York: Columbia University Press, 1998), 201-6 at 205.
81. Levinas, At the Time of Nations, trans. M. B. Smith (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994), 61.
82. Jacques Derrida, "Welcome," 71-74; Herzog, "Is Liberalism 'All We Need'?" 218-19.
83. Jacques Derrida, "Welcome," 71-74; Herzog, "Is Liberalism 'All We Need'?" 218-19.
84. Levinas, Time of Nations, 61.
85. Critchley, Ethics of Deconstruction, 223.
86. Ibid., 4-5, 41.
87. Susan Handelman, Fragments of Redemption: Jewish Thought and Literary Theory in Benjamin, Scholem, and Levinas (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991), 208-17.
88. Jacques Derrida, "Violence and Metaphysics," in Writing and Difference, trans. Alan Bass (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978).
89. Levinas, Ethics and Infinity, 79-81.