Emmanuel Levinas on Maurice Blanchot

source: Eidos84    2012年10月9日
Emmanuel Levinas on his early relationship with Maurice Blanchot. From Hugo Santiago's 'Maurice Blanchot' (1998).
Trans. Kris Pender and Philippe Salmon

Emmanuel Levinas: The Right To Be (English Subtitles)

source: Eidos84    2011年6月22日
"The Right to Be", section two of "Penser Aujourd'hui: Emmanuel Levinas" (1991).
Levinas discusses the idea that the "perseverance of Being" is the source of all evil and suffering. For Levinas, such perseverance is not to be understood in terms of the individual's right to be, but rather in relation to a perceived right to violence and excess. Levinas also discusses the Biblical Genesis story. In this account, evil, as the immoderate or excessive aspiration of man towards Being, is absent. Evil is subsequent to the Creation, which was "good"; evil is therefore of a secondary nature to the good and, Levinas claims, is solely manifested in relation to man.
Thanks again to Salmon Philippe [youtube user "salmonfishandships"] for assistance with the translation.

Emmanuel Levinas: The Strong and the Weak (English Subtitles)

source: Eidos84    2011年6月26日
"The Strong and the Weak", section three of "Penser Aujourd'hui: Emmanuel Levinas" (1991).
Levinas discusses his famous analyses of the face. For Levinas, the face expresses a weakness and demands responsibility for the other. Levinas links this notion of responsibility to the Biblical ideas of "holiness" and "election/the elect".
Thanks to Salmon Philippe for assistance with the translation.

Interview with Levinas (English Subtitles)

source: Eidos84    2011年5月6日
On June 29 1993 Michel Field interviewed Emmanuel Levinas on the occasion of the recent publication of "Dieu, la Mort et le Temps", a collection of Levinas's course materials. Field questions Levinas about the lateral character of his approach to philosophy at the crossroads of different civilizations. Levinas also talks about one of his favourite themes, the relation between one human and another, which consists of transcendence, "the exit from oneself".

Emmanuel Levinas: Being in the Principle of War (English Subtitles)

source: Eidos84　2011年6月10日
"Being in the Principle of War", section one of "Penser Aujourd'hui: Emmanuel Levinas" (1991).
Interviewed by Catherine Chalier, Levinas first explains what brought him to philosophy and ontology, and his early engagement with Heidegger. In relation to the experience of Being, Levinas discusses "the sadness of (self-)interestedness" (la tristesse de l'intéressement), which is a product of contemporary experience. Levinas makes the distinction between self-interestedness and "disinterestedness'' (le desintéressement); disinterestedness is "to lose interest in oneself", and is peculiar to human being. For Levinas, the idea of disinterestedness is essential to his philosophy, and can also be called "holiness." Finally, in response to the claim that values of holiness are largely disengaged from historical reality, Levinas states that, on the contrary, his philosophy is deeply concerned with history, and the experience of holiness, in historical periods succeeding Biblical times, is precisely "the rationality of history".
Many thanks to my good friend Salmon Philippe [salmonfishandships] for assistance with the more difficult aspects of translation.