Levinas: Let It Be

By Eric Hanna, S.J.

digitalphilosophy.wordpress.com

I've been devoting many hours to studying and preparing for my MA Thesis in philosophy and I have chosen to write about the thinker Emmanuel Levinas, a twentieth century French thinker. Levinas has changed the way I look at life; and I wish to briefly explain why it's worth devoting so much time to reading his work.

Philosophy ought to be about discovering truth. But as Pontius Pilate asked: "what is truth?" We know that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. This means that devoting ourselves to study the richness of the human experience and the truth contained within it will bring us closer to Christ, who became human out of love for us.

Much like the refrain of a Beatles song, the truth that Levinas uncovers is an insight that seems either obvious or naive when you give it only a cursory glance. This truth is: we are essentially compassionate creatures. However, Levinas' view is far from simple.