Sensibility and Singularity: The Problem of Phenomenology in Levinas (SUNY Series in Contemporary Continental Philosophy)

Is Emmanuel Levinas a dismissive critic of Husserlian phenomenology, or an important member of its movement? The standard account of Levinas s work assumes his distance from Husserl. In opposition to this account, Sensibility and Singularity contends that Husserl was a vital, living resource for Levinas throughout his philosophical career. The singularity of the Other is the centerpiece of Levinas s thought. The philosophical significance of this singularity, however, cannot be fully appreciated without attending to Levinas s transformation of the Husserlian themes of time, materiality, intentionality, and sense. This book documents those transformations and establishes their centrality to Levinas s notion of ethics. What emerges from this reading is a thorough account of Levinas s constant and productive debate with the Husserlian tradition of phenomenology."