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Nietzsche and Levinas on time

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Abstract

Despite the criticisms that Levinas addresses to Nietzsche throughout his writing, he also praises Nietzsche’s legacy. In Humanism of the Other, he indicates how the Nietzschean man is “‘reducing’ being, […] undoing by the non-saying of dance and laughter […] the worlds that weave the aphoristic verb that demolishes them; retiring from the time of aging […] by the thought of the eternal recurrence” (Levinas in Humanism of the other, trans. Nidra Poller. University of Illinois Press, Chicago, p 65, 2003). Interpreting Nietzsche’s ambiguous thought of the eternal recurrence as a source of youth, Levinas brings to light the fertility of Nietzsche’s concept of temporality. The aim of this paper is first to render Nietzsche’s thought on time more explicit, focusing on his approach to eternal recurrence, and then to study Levinas’ own approach to time. In the end, it will be possible to understand better Levinas’ interpretation of Nietzsche, and to shed light on some important similarities between these two different approaches to time.

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Notes

  1. Quoted by Levinas (2003, 45).

  2. In the present context, it would be difficult to discuss in details the Nietzschean approach to drives. See Patrick Wotling’s interesting analysis on drives (2008).

  3. Quoted by Richardson (2006, 219).

  4. Quoted by Granarolo (1993, 96).

  5. Quoted by Hatab (2008, 156).

  6. Quoted by Granarolo (1993, 97–98).

  7. Quoted by Nehamas (1980, 349).

  8. The resort to God in Levinas’ language does not always have a theophanic meaning. It is rather invoked, most the time, to bring to light how I am bound to the other.

  9. Quoted by Severson (2013, 202).

  10. This does not mean that Levinas rejects the idea of the death of God, largely promoted by Nietzsche. On the contrary, Levinas takes very seriously the death of God into his account, indicating the impossibility of any theodicy after Auschwitz.

  11. Quoted also by Simhon (2010, 277).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CERILAC, Université de Paris, Paris, France

    Nibras Chehayed

  2. CNRS-Ifpo, Beirut, Lebanon

    Nibras Chehayed

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Chehayed, N. Nietzsche and Levinas on time. Cont Philos Rev 52, 381–395 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11007-019-09476-7

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