Levinas and multicultural society

With a friend / philosopher from Pakistan I created a community called "Debating (with) God". We will discuss the nature of God from a philosophical perspective. We decided that I would present Levinas' concept of God and he would present Spinoza's concept, and then we will compare and discuss these views. The central question is if God, if he exists, is part of the physical world, or if he can only be found in a metaphysical world which is not accessible for humans. If so, if he lives in a completely different dimension, then the question is how humans can know anything about him at all, even if he exists at all or not.

I found an article on the Internet which focusses on Levinas' concept of God, so I posted a summary in the D(w)G community. Here is what I posted at Orkut: Below is a summary of an article from Val Petridis and Tom Fatsis in the Quodlibet Online Journal of Christian Theology and Philosophy. See also the

"Purple Infinity"

Throughout his works Emmanuel Levinas has used various terminologies to refer to God. In every case God is described as infinite unknowable, unsayable and unsignifyable. In the “Trace of the Face“ Levinas refers to God as the Unknown and absolute other. In Totality and Infinity, Levinas calls God the absolute other and in Otherwise than Being he uses the term the otherwise than being. I will show that these concepts are completely compatible with one another and are based on the same premises. Furthermore, it will be argued that term God is a phrase or ideatum that refers to that which cannot be known, signified, or contained in any expression of language. Levinas’ God will be shown to everything that can never be known or said. This God is not the personal deity depicted in typical religiosity, Levinas’ God is not a divinity that interacts with the human world, rather this God is that which lies beyond the limits of what humans can ever experience or know. It will be shown that the term God as found in Levinas work can be easily substituted by any other term that refers to that which is beyond everything contained within that which can be known. Thus, I will prove that Levinas use of the terms infinite, the unknown, the absolute other and the otherwise than being to refer to the same non-religious God or the something that is absolutely beyond being. The term God refers to that which a secular term like infinity could as easily be used to referred to without losing any of its intended connotations lost in the substitution of one term for the other. In fact, I will show that the term God is more problematic than its secular counterparts as it contains religious presuppositions that are not contained in Levinas formulation of that which lies beyond being. In this sense, Levinas’ terms for God secularize divinity and relegate God to a concept acceptable even to atheists.
This is not the God of religion rather a term used as an ideatum of that which is always beyond what humans will ever know. This God who will never fulfill any of the characteristics usually attributed to God and even if God did, no one would ever know it.

I will commence by examining the idea of the unknown as presented by Levinas in “The Trace of the Face“. The perpetual unknown is infinite. No matter what one encounters and absorbs into one’s horizon the unknown continually exists and remains infinite beyond the self’s horizon. What lies beyond the limits of the known will always be infinite and unknown. This seems to suggest that part of the infinity of the unknown can be encompassed within the known and made finite within one’s horizon. However, Levinas seems to also imply the unknown is always unknown and always stands outside the horizon of the known as the infinite unknown. The trace it leaves behind as the self absorbs more of the unknown into the self’s horizon is a trace of evidence that erases itself and only exists in the moment of transition when something unknown becomes known. Thus, one can only realize the dichotomy between the unknown and the known at the moment of transition from the former to the latter. The unknowable will never be part of that which can be known. Its absolute alterity is always beyond the self’s horizon.

In Totality and Infinity, Levinas claims that infinity is a good term for the absolute other or God. An ideatum is a term used to refer to something without attempting to encompass it, to make reference to its content or claim to know anything about it. An ideatum does not signify an object of being, rather it refers to that which cannot be signified and lies beyond being. Infinity refers to a concept that is beyond human comprehension. One transcends to the realization of the absolute other when the self’s idea of totality becomes disrupted by the presence of the face of the other. The other who faces me is more than what I can sense, the other holds hidden secrets that I cannot completely grasp, never. At the moment one’s idea of totality becomes disrupted in the face to face with the other, one transcends to an experience of the face to face with the absolute other (God). The absolute other is unknowable and unsignifyable. The face of the absolute other is an ideatum that only assumes the existence of that which cannot be known and lies beyond being. Levinas’ ideatum of infinity as presented in Totality and Infinity seems to indicate a concept that is beyond any finite set or idea and overflows any reference to it.
So, in short, whatever this infinity may be, no one will ever know. If it is God it is more akin to deism than any interactive concept of a personal God usually proffered by most world religions. This God does not act in creation as propertied by religions like Judaism and Christianity.

The traditional characteristics attributed to God become problematic in the face of the premises Levinas uses to refer to the unknowable beyond being or what he calls God. Traditionally God is described as Omnipresent, Omniscient, Omnipotent and all good. Since Levinas’ God does not interact with the world of being and being is the bases of the known, God remains unknowable. Even if Levinas’ God had any of the above-mentioned attributes no one within Being, such as a living human, would ever know it. As Levinas claims in Totality and Infinity, this God is better worshipped in silence without any type of homage than worshipped with any sense of piety.

In conclusion, I have shown that the Unknown, Infinity, the absolute other and the otherwise than being are compatible with a secularized idea of God. These terms, including God, are ideatums which are used by Levinas to refer to that which cannot be contain in any expression of knowledge or language. Levinas’ God is everything that can never be known or said. This God is not the personal deity typical of religiosity. Levinas’ God is not a divinity that interacts with the human world causing the great feats described in many religions.. Rather this God is that which lies beyond the limits of what humans can ever know or interact with. It has been shown that the term God in Levinas’ work can be easily substituted by any term that refers to that which is beyond everything contained within that which can be known. The term God refers to that which a secular term like infinity could be used to referred to without losing any of its intended connotations. In fact, I have shown that the term God is more problematic than its secular counterparts as he term God contains religious presuppositions that are not contained in Levinas formulation of that which lies beyond Being. In this sense, Levinas terms for the beyond Being or God secularize divinity and relegates God to a concept acceptable to even Atheists. This is not the God of religion rather it is a term used as an ideatum of that which is always beyond what humans will ever know. This God will never fulfil any of the characteristics usually attributed to God and even if God did, according to Levinas formulations of God as completely unknowable, no one would ever know it.

# posted by Levinas and culture @ 12:22 PM