Levinas described the ‘there is’ as emptiness that feels full

Evidence

‘As if the emptiness were full’: Levinas, Ethics and Infinity, tr. R. Cohen (Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 1985), 48 (radio interviews with Philippe Nemo, Feb.–March 1981). — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 1359

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Levinas’ ‘il y a’ names an oppressive background being we escape through structure — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 349; Levinas made the ethical relation to the Other foundational to existence itself — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 628; Levinas’s life spans modern phenomenology from Husserl to ethics of the Other — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 989 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• The nihilist errs by treating existence as a lack rather than a positive lack #complicates (0.75) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Ethics of Ambiguity, 56