In the expansive oeuvre of Emanuel Levinas there can be found no interlocutor more crucial than Plato. Levinas ranked the Phaedrus, in particular, among the most important philosophical documents ever written. Among its many themes, Plato’s Phaedrus explores the complex and fraught tools of speaking, writing, a In the expansive oeuvre of Emanuel Levinas there can be found no interlocutor more crucial than Plato. Levinas ranked the Phaedrus, in particular, among the most important philosophical documents ever written. Among its many themes, Plato’s Phaedrus explores the complex and fraught tools of speaking, writing, and dialogue. Already in the 1961 Totality and Infinity, Levinas rejects the classical and Platonic superiority of thought over language. In the Phaedrus, Socrates questions whether writing can ever do justice to thought, and suggests modes of speaking and writing more likely to give rise to the understanding, right-thinking, proper recollection. In his final major work, Otherwise than Being, or Beyond Essence (1974), Levinas offers an expansive reversal of the classical ranking of thought above language. This chapter will evaluate Levinas’s engagement and reversal of Plato’s treatment of the written word, suggesting that there are resources missed by Levinas - even in Plato’s Phaedrus - for a philosophy of language that gives rise to responsibility before understanding and dialogue. Already in the 1961 Totality and Infinity, Levinas rejects the classical and Platonic superiority of thought over language. In the Phaedrus, Socrates questions whether writing can ever do justice to thought, and suggests modes of speaking and writing more likely to give rise to the understanding, right-thinking, proper recollection. In his final major work, Otherwise than Being, or Beyond Essence (1974), Levinas offers an expansive reversal of the classical ranking of thought above language. This chapter will evaluate Levinas’s engagement and reversal of Plato’s treatment of the written word, suggesting that there are resources missed by Levinas - even in Plato’s Phaedrus - for a philosophy of language that gives rise to responsibility before understanding.