Benny Lévy

Biography

Benny Lévy (also Pierre Victor; 28 August 1945 – 15 October 2003) was a philosopher, political activist and author. A political figure of May 1968 in France, he was the disciple and last personal secretary of Jean-Paul Sartre from 1974 to 1980. Along with him, he helped founding the French newspaper Libération in 1972.

After having encountered the Jewish philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas in 1978, he operated a return to tradition. He then founded the Institut d'études lévinassiennes in Jerusalem with Alain Finkielkraut and Bernard-Henri Lévy.

Benny Lévy is known for his unusual itinerary from Maoism to Judaism, or "from Mao to Moses", which was also followed by a few other philosophers of his...