On Escape - (Cultural Memory in the Present) by Emmanuel Levinas (Paperback)

On Escape is an extremely important early text by someone considered by many to be the most important ethical thinker of the twentieth century, Emmanuel Levinas.

This book contains the first full treatment of many of the themes Levinas would pursue over the next sixty years.

Rolland's contributions are not simply helpful supplements to the essay but a quasi-necessity for understanding its place and significance for both Levinas's work in particular and twentieth century thought in general. The book begins with an analysis of need not as lack or some external limit to a self-sufficient being, but as a positive relation to our being, Levinas moves through a series of brilliant phenomenological analyses of such phenomena as pleasure, shame, and nausea in order to show a fundamental insufficiency in the human condition. This book is a must read for anyone interested in understanding the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas and its significance in the 20th century thought.