I seem to be led between these two philosophers.Levinas was an admirer and student of Heidegger until the Nazi era.Though Levinas’ wi fe and daughter survived WW2 hidden in a Monastery,the rest of his family who were Jews in Lithuania perished. in the Nazi Camps.This made him rethink his philosophy and led him into putting Ethics in primary place.And the primacy of our awareness of /responsibility the other as our first concern.Indeed that is what makes us human subjects
Perhaps only a Jewish person has the right to talk about Ethics after the Holocaust.
I put two links below.
and
Related articles
- I looked up Levinas’s life (complexnumberblog.wordpress.com)
- Heidegger’s ‘mineness’ in comparison with Buddhism (thrownintotheworld.wordpress.com)
- Push the envelope. Watch it bend. (thefairestharmony.wordpress.com)
- Conduct Unbecoming a Philosopher (geopolicraticus.wordpress.com)
- “What is called thinking” by Heidegger (complexnumberblog.wordpress.com)
- Levinas’ Ethics (complexnumberblog.wordpress.com)
- Adorno on Heidegger (leiterreports.typepad.com)
How my heart sings 
Hello Nick
Thank you very much,Nick.I have only come across Levinas recently via Paul Gordon and his writing.I have ordered a book by Paul Davis,introductory text.
After that I may try this one you mention above.his life and philosophy are intermingled…. after what happened in the Nazi era
I consider Levinas’ Totality and Infinity to be one of the great works of metaphysics of the twentieth century, and that it is a metaphysical treatise on ethics makes it all the more interesting. Levinas is as clear on difficult issues as Heidegger is obscure.
Best wishes,
Nick