Politics in Levinas and Derrida: Beyond and Against Liberalism

This essay investigates the conception of politics in the works of Levinas and Derrida to show not only their points of convergence but also (and especially) their differences. We have structured this article into two sections, dedicated respectively to Levinas and to Derrida. In this article, we will reflect on one of the topics that has traditionally been considered to link Levinas and Derrida most strongly, and will seek to show that their critiques of liberal political theory are very different, and are built on the basis of distinct presuppositions. In this way, we will be able to go deeper into Levinas's political theory, and we will establish a reading concerning the relationship between the political theories of Levinas and Derrida that accepts the classical interpretation that sees the Algerian as the heir and continuer of the Lithuanian but confirms that Derrida uses Levinas's critique only as a point of departure. In Derrida's political works, written after Politics of Friendship, there is ever more distance between him and the Lithuanian, and the meaning of his critique of liberalism is completely different.