Otherwise than being, or, Beyond essence
By: Emmanuel Lévinas ; translated by Alphonso Lingis.
Publisher: Duquesne University Press
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Pittsburgh, Pa
Language: eng
Number of pages: 205
Subjects: Ontology.; Essentialism (Philosophy)
Other titles: Otherwise than being; Beyond essence
Description: Otherwise than being or beyond essence is a sequel to Levinas's totality and infinity. An immensely challenging and sophisticated work, it is generally considered Levinas's most important contribution to the contemporary debate surrounding the closure of metaphysical discourse, much commented upon by Jacques Derrida. The work contains a fundamentally original theory of the ethical relationship and describes the face-to-face relationship, sensibility, responsibility and speech.

The process of the revelation of Being as laid out by modern phenomenological ontology is severely criticized, as the author claims that the ultimate account of these phenomena is not in ontology, the exposition of the meaning of Being, but in a paradoxical discourse, in a skeptical mode, of what is beyond Being.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Originally published: Dordrecht, Netherlands : M. Nijhoff, 1974, in series: Martinus Nijhoff philosophy texts.