Emmanuel Levinas

This chapter treats the historical and systematic relationship between Emmanuel Levinas and Plotinus. After a brief sketch of Levinas’ conception of transcendence, his engagement with Plotinus is chronologically reconstructed, starting with notes from his diary as a prisoner of war. While his appraisal varies somewhat, Levinas mostly sees Plotinus as one of the few thinkers in the history of philosophy who really tries to go beyond the scope of being. The chapter also discusses differences between their notions of transcendence and closes with some open questions regarding their relation.