In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “jewish philosopher and talmudic scholar from kaunas in”. Today it says “french philosopher of”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-02. In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “jewish philosopher and talmudic scholar from kaunas in”. Today it says “french philosopher of”.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
Emmanuel Lévinas ( January 12 , 1906 - December 25 , 1995 ) was a Jewish philosopher and Talmudic scholar from Kaunas in Lithuania , who moved to France , where he wrote most of his works. He was naturalized in 1930 . Levinas was deeply influenced by Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger , whom he met at the university of Freiburg , as well as by Jewish religion. He was one of the first intellectuals to introduce to France the work of Heidegger and Husserl, by translations (for example of Husserl's 'Cartesian Meditations') and original philosophical tracts.1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 15981456.
The opening as it stood in 2010 4 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Emmanuel Levinas ( ; 12 January 1906 – 25 December 1995) was a Lithuanian -born French philosopher and Talmudic commentator.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 371176054.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Emmanuel Levinas ( ; 12 January 1906 – 25 December 1995) was a French philosopher of Lithuanian Jewish ancestry who is known for his work related to Jewish philosophy , existentialism , ethics , and ontology .L'anachronisme constitutif de l'existence juive – Nonfiction.fr : " Première remarque, sans doute à l'humour décalé : l'auteur de ces lignes a toujours entendu Emmanuel Levinas réclamer que l'on écrive son nom correctement, c'est-à-dire sans accent.Pronounced as if written as Lévinas .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 665789914.
The opening as it stood in 2020
French philosopher Emmanuel Levinas ( / ˈ l ɛ v ɪ n æ s / ; ; 12 January 1906 – 25 December 1995) was a French philosopher of Lithuanian Jewish ancestry who is known for his work related to Jewish philosophy , existentialism , ethics , phenomenology and ontology . L'anachronisme constitutif de l'existence juive – Nonfiction.fr : " Première remarque, sans doute à l'humour décalé : l'auteur de ces lignes a toujours entendu Emmanuel Levinas réclamer que l'on écrive son nom correctement, c'est-à-dire sans accent. Pronounced as if written as Lévinas .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 965171397.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Lithuanian-French philosopher Emmanuel Levinas ( / ˈ l ɛ v ɪ n æ s / ; ; 12 January 1906 – 25 December 1995) was a French philosopher of Lithuanian Jewish ancestry who is known for his work within Jewish philosophy , existentialism , and phenomenology , focusing on the relationship of ethics to metaphysics and ontology . L'anachronisme constitutif de l'existence juive – Nonfiction.fr : " Première remarque, sans doute à l'humour décalé : l'auteur de ces lignes a toujours entendu Emmanuel Levinas réclamer que l'on écrive son nom correctement, c'est-à-dire sans accent. The pronunciation is the same whether the name is written Levinas or Lévinas .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1178829192.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Lithuanian-French philosopher (1906–1995) Emmanuel Levinas (born Emanuelis Levinas / ˈ l ɛ v ɪ n ɑː s / ; French: [ɛmanɥɛl levinas] ; 12 January 1906 – 25 December 1995) was a French philosopher of Lithuanian Jewish ancestry who is known for his work within Jewish philosophy , existentialism , and phenomenology , focusing on the relationship of ethics to metaphysics and ontology . L'anachronisme constitutif de l'existence juive – Nonfiction.fr : " Première remarque, sans doute à l'humour décalé : l'auteur de ces lignes a toujours entendu Emmanuel Levinas réclamer que l'on écrive son nom correctement, c'est-à-dire sans accent. Levinas, Totality and Infinity on YouTube The pronunciation is the same whether the name is written Levinas or Lévinas .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1292027251. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
In 2005 Wikipedia's first sentence called it “jewish philosopher and talmudic scholar from kaunas in”. Today it says “french philosopher of”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined between 2005 and 2025.
Then
jewish philosopher and talmudic scholar from kaunas in
Now
french philosopher of
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
