Synopses & Reviews
By virtue of the originality and depth of its thought, Emmanuel Levinass masterpiece, Totality and Infinity: An Essay on Exteriority, is destined to endure as one of the great works of philosophy. It is an essential text for understanding Levinass discussion of “the Other,” yet it is known as a “difficult” book. Modeled after Norman Kemp Smiths commentary on Kants Critique of Pure Reason, Levinass Existential Analytic guides both new and experienced readers through Levinass text. James R. Mensch explicates Levinass arguments and shows their historical referents, particularly with regard to Heidegger, Husserl, and Derrida. Students using this book alongside Totality and Infinity will be able to follow its arguments and grasp the subtle phenomenological analyses that fill it.
About the Author
James R. Mensch is a professor of philosophy at Charles University in the Czech Republic and at Saint Francis Xavier University in Canada. His books include, most recently, Husserl Account of our Consciousness of Time (2010) and Embodiments: From the Body to the Body Politic (Northwestern, 2009).
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter
1: Heidegger’s Existential Analytic
2: The Preface
3: Metaphysical Desire, Totality and Infinity, I, A
4: Separation and Discourse, Totality and Infinity, I, B
5: Truth and Justice, Totality and Infinity, I, C
6: Separation and Absoluteness, Totality and Infinity, I, D
7: Interiority and Economy, Totality and Infinity, II, A-B, C, §§1-3
8: Dwelling and Freedom, Totality and Infinity, II, C, §3—E, §3
9: The Face, Totality and Infinity, III, A-B
10: The Temporality of Finite Freedom, Totality and Infinity, III, C
11: Beyond the Face: The Analytic of the Erotic, Totality and Infinity IV
12: Conclusions
Bibliography
Notes