《【列维纳斯研究】在列维纳斯那里遭遇现代主体》.pdfVIP

LEORA BATNITZKY Encountering the Modern Subject in Levinas INTRODUCTION The scholarly literature on Levinas and Descartes is surprisingly sparse, given Levinassbold claims in Totality and Infinity that he is drawingon a number of profound Cartesian insights. Some attention hasbeen given to Levinassuse ofDescartess conception of infinity and some to his use of Descartess evil genius in arguing for a goodness beyond being. My focus in this essay, however, is on Levinassappro- priation of Descartess philosophy in orderto arguefor a separable,in- Levinass claim about ethics rests his eluci- dependent subject. upon dation of the subject of ethics, the Iwho is uniquely responsible. It is the separate,independent, indeed atheistic self that he means to af- firm in Totality and Infinity. Despite his arguments about the inabil- ity of philosophy to graspthe face of the other,Levinassprojectis noth- ing short of a defense of the modern philosophical project-and the modern subject in particular-after Heidegger. If postmodern philosophy takes as its villain the subject of Des- cartess the of Levinas in this calls into cogito, reading presented essay the view of Levinasas a thinker.I in what question postmodern argue follows that Levinassphenomenological description of the subject in Totality and Infinity, andalso in Otherwise than Being,bearsits great- est debt to Descartes. Levinas in fact presents his readerswith an eth- ical encounterwith Descartess modern subject-an encounter that he claims is alreadypresent in Descartes. Yet surely, one would quickly reply, Levinass subject is not Des- 1. Of particularinterest is RobertBernasconisThe Silent AnarchicWorldof the Evil Genius,in G. Moneta,J.Sallis, andJ.Taminiaux,eds., The Collegium Phaenome- nologicum: TheFirstTenYears Dordrecht:Kluwer, 1988 ,257-72. YFS104, Encounterswith Levinas, ed. Thomas Trezise,? 2004 by YaleUniversity. 6 LEORA BATNITZKY 7 cartess subject. I arguein what follows,