A Critique of Alterity, or Emmanuel Levinas’s Otherness in Crisis

Abstract

Despite the late emergence of the other as an independent concept in Western philosophy, alterity emerged at the beginning of the contemporary age as a mere reaction against the prevailing egoism of Western thought. This article is a critical approach to alterity in the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas, who took the face-to-face encounter as an essential determinant of relations with the other. Though this encounter reveals hidden links between theology, philosophy, and politics in Levinas's writings, it also sheds light on the embattled aspect of Levinasian alterity which restricts its thinking to two cultural dimensions. In much of his work, he engages with affinity and continuity between Judaism and Christianity and between the Hebrew tradition and Hellenistic heritage. Conversely, Levinas only addresses Islamic civilization in passing and holds fast to Zionism, which moves him to disclaim the face of the Palestinian.