Levinas' ADRIAAN Method PEPERZAK Loyola University of Chicago In a response to questions asked during a discussion in March 1975,? Emmanuel Levinas said the following about the fascination with methof our that has captivated many philosophers odological problems century: is possible in method or that I not believe that transparency Those who is possible in the manner of transparency philosophy their entire lives to methodology have written many have dedicated books instead of the more interesting books they could have written.2 and at least Yet, clearly no philosopher operates without a method, some methodological awareness is required for a non-naive and justified theory Aided by explicit hints and remarks found in Levinas' work,?3 I will here try to sketch some aspects of the method operative in his philosophical writings ' Philosophy and Judaism Because several commentators have accused Levinas of presenting a of I must under the name view philosophy, religious or a theological the domain of the latter, as Levinas unbegin by briefly delineating derstands it, and indicate why his philosophical works, which he careand theological from his religious, fully distinguishes exegetic, are indeed in the most philosophical rigorous sense of publications, the word.4 110 111 The post-Hegelian has made it obvious that history of philosophizing the modern presupposition of a presuppositionless philosophy neither describes any existing philosophy nor is capable of generating any indiscourse on of human Phiexistence.5 teresting interesting questions is always and necessarily in and driven rooted losophy by a or conviction For the orientation, trust, commitment, prephilosophical this trust and conviction has taken in an orthodox Levinas, Jew shape in the Talmudic Jewish lifestyle, while it finds a reasoned formulation of the Bible in this tradition interpretation Inevitably, participation a role-at least in the his But just plays background-in philosophy as a Jewish chemist is not necessarily Jewish in his chemistry, so a phirules and standards that are neither Jewlosopher obeys professional ish nor Buddhist, neither atheist nor antireligious The rules and standards that Levinas follows in his philosophical are those of a transformed which is of course writings phenomenology, a particular form of thinking and philosophy Husserl and Heidegger, and to some extent Bergson, were the masters from whom Levinas learned the m6tier; but in developing his own thought, he discovered that their presuppositions and methods had to be transcended and transformed.' This transformation follows from philosophical complications, and its necessity can be tested by all people who are at home in the philosophical tradition-a tradition that in principle is open to all humans who are mature enough to have had certain experiences and who have learned the skills required for thinking rigorously about common experiences Philosophy speaks a universal language, even if this language was discovered or invented in Greece (just as the language of chemistry was discovered in modern Europe, but in principle is open to all people) least to However, if it is true that human lives are oriented and-at some extent-are ruled by prephilosophical convictions, philosophy, or radical of all theoretical endeavors, being the most fundamental cannot but also reflect on those convictions and orientations As universal theory, philosophy reflects upon all forms of basic trust, be they explicitly religious or not, asking to what extent they are understandor identical with able, reasonable, rational, demonstrable, congruent, theses For such an philosophically justifiable investigation, familiarity with the investigated conviction or commitment is a condition It is therefore understandable for a Greek like Plato would that, example, turn to his own religious background in asking the ultimate questions about life and destiny, while a Christian who happens to be a philosopher is more inclined to interrogate Christianity, and a Jew, the Jewish In the same way that Heidegger tradition turned to the poems of