Heidegger, Levinas, Derrida: the Question of Difference ― The Question of Difference

This book explores the relation between Heidegger, Levinas and Derrida by means of a dialogue with experts on the work of these mutually influential thinkers. Each essay in this collection focuses on the relation between at least two of these three philosophers focusing on various themes, such as Alterity, Justice, Truth and Language. By contextualising these thinkers and tracing their mutually shared themes, the book establishes the question of difference and its ongoing radicalization as the problem to which phenomenology must respond.

Heidegger’s influence on Derrida and Levinas was quite substantial. Derrida once claimed that his work ‘would not have been possible without the opening of Heidegger’s questions.’ Equally, as peers, Derrida and Levinas commented on and critiqued each other’s work. By examining the differences between these thinkers on a variety of themes, this book represents a philosophically enriching project and essential reading for understanding the respective projects of each of these philosophers.

Dr. Lisa Foran is teaching and research fellow in the School of Philosophy at University College Dublin, Ireland. Her research concerns the relationship between translation and the other in the work of Jacques Derrida.
Dr. Rozemund Uljee lectures at the Institute for Philosophy at Leiden University, the Netherlands. Her work focuses on the role of temporality in the thinking of justice in the writings of Martin Heidegger and Emmanuel Levinas.
In 2012, Lisa Foran and Rozemund Uljee were together granted the prestigious New Foundations Award from the Irish Research Council in order to facilitate their Phenomenology in the 21st Century Research Project. This project seeks to establish the position of phenomenology in contemporary philosophical discourse. Phenomenology is both transforming and being transformed by schools of thought as disparate as Cognitive Science, Critical Theory and Speculative Realism. Phenomenology in the 21st Century will trace this transformation through a series of workshops, international conferences and publications, thereby creating a diverse international research network centred on the continuing relevance of phenomenology.