Jean Paul Sartre hailed him as the philosopher who introduced France to Husserl and Heidegger. Derrida has paid him homage as "master." An original philosopher who combines the insights of phenomenological analysis with those of Jewish spirituality, Emmanuel Levinas has proven to be of extraordinary importance in the history of modern thought. Collecting Levinas's important writings on religion, Difficult Freedom contributes to a growing debate about the significance of religion -- particularly Judaism and Jewish spiritualism -- in European philosophy. Topics include ethics, aesthetics, politics, messianism, Judaism and women, and Jewish-Christian relations, as well as the work of Spinoza, Hegel, Heidegger, Franz Rosenzweig, Simone Weil, and Jules Issac.
Author(s): Emmanuel Levinas
Year: 1997
Language: English
Pages: 323
Cover......Page 1
Contents......Page 8
Bibliographical Information......Page 11
Translator's Note......Page 13
Foreword......Page 14
I Beyond Pathos
......Page 16
Ethics and Spirit......Page 18
A Religion for Adults......Page 26
Judaism......Page 39
The Pharisee is Absent......Page 42
Judaism and the Feminine......Page 45
The Diary of Leon Brunschvicg......Page 54
Being a Westerner......Page 61
Means of Identification......Page 65
The Ark and the Mummy......Page 69
II Commentaries......Page 72
Messianic Texts......Page 74
III Polemics
......Page 112
Place and Utopia......Page 114
A New Version of Jesus Narrated......Page 118
The Spinoza Case......Page 121
Have You Reread Baruch?......Page 126
Persons or Figures......Page 134
A Voice on Israel......Page 138
Poetry and the Impossible......Page 142
Simone Weil against the Bible......Page 148
Loving the Torah more than God......Page 157
An Eye for an Eye......Page 161
The Struthof Case......Page 164
The Name of a Dog......Page 166
The Virtues of Patience......Page 169
IV Openings......Page 172
Jewish Thought Today......Page 174
Jacob Gordin......Page 182
Religion and Tolerance......Page 187
Israel and Universalism......Page 190
Monotheism and Language......Page 193
'Between Two Worlds'......Page 196
Judaeo-Christian Friendship......Page 217
V Distances......Page 218
Freedom of Speech......Page 220
Judaism and the Present......Page 223
The State of Israel and the Religion of Israel......Page 231
From the Rise of Nihilism to the Carnal Jew......Page 236
The Meaning of History......Page 241
The Light and the Dark......Page 243
Heidegger, Gagarin and Us......Page 246
Hegel and the Jews......Page 250
Exclusive Rights......Page 254
VI Hic et nunc
......Page 258
How is Judaism Possible?......Page 260
Assimilation Today......Page 270
Space is not One-dimensional......Page 274
Reflections on Jewish Education......Page 280
Education and Prayer......Page 284
For a Jewish Humanism......Page 288
Antihumanism and Education......Page 292
VII Signatures
......Page 304
Signature......Page 306
Notes......Page 311
Select Glossary of Names and Terms......Page 317
Index......Page 320
