Abstract: Three kinds of difference can be distinguished in Levinas. Combined with Jullien's elaborations, these three kinds of difference can also be used to distinguish three ways of thinking about interculturality:distinction treats different cultures as different parts of unity, strangeness treats other cultures as exoticism and heterogeneity, and alterity views another culture as an ethical object that can never be captured by the subject. But at the same time, we should also be fully aware of the differences between these two thinkers. While alterity in Levinas emphasizes the priority of the other over the self, divergence in Jullien emphasizes the reflection on the self through the other. On the one hand, in cross-cultural communication, the "intelligible common" pursued by divergence can balance the asymmetry between the self and the other in Levinas; on the other hand, the other-oriented ethics in alterity is also a necessary complement to the idea of divergence, and divergence is bound to occur in the responsibility to the other. Divergence and alterity need to be implemented in life. Only by returning to the simplicity and complexity of life can Levinas and Jullien be activated and their limitations be overcome. Correspondingly, cross-cultural communication based on alterity and divergence should also be expanded from understanding to life. This cross-cultural life will not only expand the subject's freedom and possibility, but also function as a strategy to resist global capitalism.

Key words: Levinas, Jullien, interculturality, cross-cultural communication, life