Benny Lévy

Benny Lévy (born August 28, 1945 in Cairo , Kingdom of Egypt , † October 15, 2003 in Jerusalem ), alias Pierre Victor , was a temporarily stateless philosopher and writer.

Lévy came to Belgium at the age of eleven and later to France, where he attended the École normal supérieure from 1965 to 1970 . In Paris May 68 he emerged as a political activist . From September 1973 until his death in April 1980 he was the private secretary of Jean-Paul Sartres , whom he had previously assisted in founding the magazine Liberation .

The former leading figure of the Gauche prolétarienne , a left-wing splinter group at the beginning of the 1970s, carried out an ideological turn from communism with Maoist stamps to Jewish beliefs and thoughts during his time with Sartre, mediated by the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas Mao to Moses ”. This conversion , which some of his colleagues also carried out, also meant a return to his Jewish roots and finally moved him to settle in Jerusalem in 1997, where he founded the Institut des études lévinassiennes with Alain Finkielkraut and Bernard-Henri Lévy , which he up to directed his death.

The publication of the conversations he had with Sartre in the later 1970s caused irritation and met with incomprehension and considerable distrust in the authenticity of the reproduction of Sartre's positions in the Sartre area, for example with Simone de Beauvoir . The revision of Sartre's being- for-others and the rapprochement with Judaism were particularly irritating . The “Sartre family” did not recognize “their” Sartre and tried to discredit the text. However, Sartre pushed for publication and strongly affirmed his co-authorship. In fact, Sartre saw in this legacy-like project the opportunity to deliver the morality that he had announced in Das Sein und das Nothing almost four decades earlier.

Works

The intellectual as a revolutionary. Disputes ("On a raison de se révolter"). Rowohlt, Reinbek 1986, ISBN 3-499-11994-3 under the pseudonym Pierre Victor; together with Jean-Paul Sartre and Philippe Gavi .
Le nom de l'homme. Dialogue with Sartre . Verdier, Lagrasse 1984, ISBN 2-86432-038-X .
Philon en regard des pharisiens de l'intériorité . ANRT, Lille 1986 (3 microfiches, plus dissertation, Sorbonne, Paris 1985).
Le Logos et la lettre. Philon d'Alexandrie en regard des pharisiens . Verdier, Lagrasse 1988, ISBN 2-86432-077-0 .
Brotherhood and violence. A conversation with Benny Lévy . Together with Jean-Paul Sartre, afterword by Lothar Baier , Verlag Wagenbach, Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-8031-2219-8 (original: L'espoir maintenant. Les entretiens de 1980 , présentés et suivis du Mot de la fin par Benny Lévy , Lagrasse verdier 1991, ISBN 978-2-86432-129-3 )
Visage continu. La pensée du retour chez Emmanuel Lévinas . Verdier, Lagrasse 1998, ISBN 2-86432-289-7 .
Le meurtre du pasteur. Critique de la vision politique du monde Grasset, Paris 2002, ISBN 2-246-62571-8 .
Être Juif. Étude lévinassinènne . Verdier, Lagrasse 2003, ISBN 2-86432-402-4 .
La confusion des temps . Verdier, Lagrasse 2004, ISBN 2-86432-422-9 .
La cérémonie de la naissance . Verdier, Lagrasse 2005, ISBN 2-86432-431-8 .
Le Livre et les Livres. Entretiens sur laïcité . Verdier, Lagrasse 2006, ISBN 2-86432-459-8 (together with Alain Finkielkraut ).

Web links

Individual evidence

^ Excerpts published in advance in magazines in the year Sartre died; published under the title: Benny Lévy: Le Nom de l'homme : dialogue avec Sartre, Publication: Lagrasse: Verdier, 1984; as well as, together with Jean-Paul Sartre: L´espoir maintenant . Les entretiens de 1980, Lagrasse verdier 1991; German: Brotherhood and violence , a conversation with Benny Lévy. With an afterword by Lothar Baier. From the Franz. Von Grete Osterwald, Berlin: Wagenbach, 1993
^ Fraternity and violence. A conversation with Benny Lévy . Together with Jean-Paul Sartre, afterword by Lothar Baier , Wagenbach Verlag, Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-8031-2219-8 , p. 89
^ Cf. Bernard-Henri Lévy : Sartre. The philosopher of the 20th century . Munich (dtv) 2005, pp. 595–617, here in particular Sartre's remarks to Michel Sicard, p. 598. On Benny Lévy and Sartre also Annie Cohen-Solal : Sartre 1905-1980 . Reinbek b. Hamburg 1988, pp. 762-775

personal data
SURNAME	Lévy, Benny
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Victor, Pierre (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	French philosopher and writer
DATE OF BIRTH	August 28, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH	Cairo , Egypt
DATE OF DEATH	October 15, 2003
Place of death	Jerusalem

[1] Excerpts published in advance in magazines in the year Sartre died; published under the title: Benny Lévy: Le Nom de l'homme : dialogue avec Sartre, Publication: Lagrasse: Verdier, 1984; as well as, together with Jean-Paul Sartre: L´espoir maintenant . Les entretiens de 1980, Lagrasse verdier 1991; German: Brotherhood and violence , a conversation with Benny Lévy. With an afterword by Lothar Baier. From the Franz. Von Grete Osterwald, Berlin: Wagenbach, 1993

[2] Fraternity and violence. A conversation with Benny Lévy . Together with Jean-Paul Sartre, afterword by Lothar Baier , Wagenbach Verlag, Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-8031-2219-8 , p. 89

[3] Cf. Bernard-Henri Lévy : Sartre. The philosopher of the 20th century . Munich (dtv) 2005, pp. 595–617, here in particular Sartre's remarks to Michel Sicard, p. 598. On Benny Lévy and Sartre also Annie Cohen-Solal : Sartre 1905-1980 . Reinbek b. Hamburg 1988, pp. 762-775