列维纳斯以“伦理学”为“形而上学”,对于欧洲哲学的传统本是一个很大的冲击,但是他却强调他的哲学源自柏拉图,近取康德,而与东方哲学传统无关。即使从表面上看,列维纳斯的立论已经和传统儒家思想相当接近,它们都是以“伦理”作为自己学问的基础。中国传统重伦理,而西方哲学重物理,这本是明显区别,几成常识;如今西方哲学家说,根据他们的传统,他们的“形而上学”正是“伦理学”,则迫使我们不能对这个问题停留在表面的层次上。 Levinas’s “ethics” as “metaphysics” has a great impact on the tradition of European philosophy. However, he emphasizes that his philosophy originates from Plato and draws upon Kant closely but has nothing to do with the tradition of Oriental philosophy. Even though, on the face of it, Levinas’s argument has been quite close to that of traditional Confucianism, they both regard “ethics” as the basis for their own learning. Chinese traditional emphasis on ethics, while Western philosophy on the matter of physics, is a clear distinction and a few commonsense. Nowadays, Western philosophers say that according to their tradition, their “metaphysics” is exactly “ethics,” forcing us not to act on this The problem stays at the surface level.