Abstract:
Emmanuel Levinas was born one hundred years ago and today his work
in philosophy as well as his Talmudic readings enjoys increasing attention
in research in philosophy, literature, science of religion, theology and
other fields. The aim of my paper is twofold: 1) to indicate the relevance
of his works for scholars in the Old Testament and Jewish literature, and
2) to do this by contributing to the theme the relation between gender
issues in Levinas and his “God”. My line of argument will consist of the
following movements. First the hermeneutic fibre of human existence
needs to be described. The totalitarian tendency of human existence will
be explained with reference to the philosopher’s earliest works and it will
be shown that his life project in philosophy was a quest for an ethics that
does not originate in the hermeneutic condition. Secondly, attention will
be given to strategies that Levinas adopted in search for an escape from a
totalitarian existence. Special attention will be given to the position given
to women in this regard. It will be shown why Levinas later abolished this
strategic analysis of femininity. Thirdly I shall argue that the role that
Levinas intended for women in his thought was later given to his
philosophical notion of God. The particularity of this notion will be
described by indicating the Jewish (Exodus and Mysticism) and “Greek”
(Plato and Heidegger) origins of it. The ethico-political implications of
this idea of God will be elaborated on by using Levinas’ central notions of
testimony, prophecy and saintliness.
