This book is a compilation of texts which served as the basis for seven presentations made in the first half of 2006 at conferences dedicated to Emmanuel Levinas celebrating the 100th anniversary of his birth. Together, they present Levinas' thought in an audacious, faithful and innovative, as well as a prosaic and radical way. This book is divided into three sections : the first, Le noyau éthique [the Ethical Core], introduces the reader to his basic ideas ; the second, Rationalité lévinasienne [Levinasian Rationality], attempts to characterize Levinas' philosophy ; the third, l'ancien siècle et son futur [The Last Century and Its Future], invites us to view the twentieth century as this author might have perceived it.
This book is both a journey and a pilgrimage — each text takes us to a different place : Paris, Strasbourg and Fribourg, Jesuralem, Paris once more, Kaunas, and then back again to Paris, our final destination — these are the stops along this "Semester with Levinas".