Accusing the Erotic Subject in Levinas

ions and Concretions In the history of philosophy, the aim has predominantly been a universal and therefore neutral description of phenomena. The sphere of the erotic, so clearly linked to the sexual and gendered speci@city and singularity of the subject, seems for this reason to be a diLcult subject for philosophers. At what level of abstraction should one approach the erotic phenomenon? Phenomenology aims to treat the phenomenon as it shows itself – in itself. Yet never is it more evident than in the treatment of erotic phenomena that one needs to start from a personal experience or attitude, otherwise the phenomenon described becomes abstract and non-committal. On the other hand, it is probably never more disturbing than when a philosopher stretches personal experience too far, and claims it to be universal.1 I will personally seek to avoid this problem wherever possible by speaking about Levinas’ philosophy of the erotic. By Luce Irigaray especially, Levinas was accused of universalizing a male standpoint in 1. One may of course say, that this is true for all philosophical topics. But this doesn’t show the problem to be void; rather underlines that the erotic is a @eld where this problem can be approached in an interesting way.