Encountering Levinas

2019 ◽  
pp. 248-287
Author(s):  
Robert Stern
Keyword(s):  
Natural Law ◽  
Emmanuel Levinas ◽  
The Other ◽  
Critical Dialogue ◽  
To Come ◽  
Ethical Demand

This chapter relates Løgstrup’s work to the ideas of Emmanuel Levinas. It begins by focusing on similarities between them (§9.1), which might then suggest ways in which each can be used to come to the aid of the other on certain shared difficulties (§9.2). But then certain significant divergences are uncovered (§9.3), which also opens up the possibility of a critical dialogue between Løgstrup and Levinas on certain fundamental issues and questions (§9.4). It is argued that at the basis of this divergence is Løgstrup’s natural law approach to the problem of normativity, and thus to the ethical demand, which puts him at odds with Levinas’s suggestion that this normativity arises from the authority of the other as a commander.

scholarly journals Justiça porvir e o tempo do outro: derrida leitor de Levinas [Justice to come and the time of the other: Derrida reading Levinas]

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 57-76
Author(s):  
Manoel Uchoa ◽  
José Tadeu Batista De Souza
Keyword(s):  
Jacques Derrida ◽  
Emmanuel Levinas ◽  
The Other ◽  
To Come

Discorrer sobre a proximidade entre os trabalhos de Jacques Derrida e Emmanuel Lévinas perpassa pela amizade e a interlocução que mantiveram durante toda a vida. Como um referencial caro a Derrida, a ética levinasiana surgiu como uma alternativa a tradição fi losófi ca do Ocidente. Assim, nos caminhos heterogêneos que suas obras traçaram, pode-se marcar uma profunda intercessão: a alteridade é constitutiva no pensamento. Logo, o último moralista de nossa época tem uma contribuição pertinente ao pensador da desconstrução. Pretende-se nesse artigo analisar a relação do pensamento desses fi lósofos em relação à categoria de Justiça a partir da alteridade.

“I” and the “Other”

2009 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 132-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petrus Van Ewijk
Keyword(s):  
Alcoholics Anonymous ◽  
Emmanuel Levinas ◽  
Language Game ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Infinite Jest ◽  
I And Thou ◽  
To Come

In David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest, the presence of Alcoholics Anonymous can be considered as an attempt to come up with a solution for both the addiction and the solipsism of the characters. AA tries to accomplish this by reconnecting the addict with the “Other”. The assimilation of the “Other” by the totalizing tendency of the self is dropped in favor of an earnest connection. This article focuses on the similarities between AA’s methods, Ludwig Wittgenstein’s philosophy of the language-game, Emmanuel Levinas’ ethics of the “Other” and Martin Buber’s I and Thou. It illustrates how, in light of this knowledge, a reader might be able to uncover moments of earnestness in Infinite Jest, as well as pick up on the rules necessary to counter contemporary American solitude.

scholarly journals Etikken i den maskerede by. Om Baumans etiske afvisning af den postmoderne bys æstetisering

2009 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-23
Author(s):  
Lasse Suonperä Liebst
Keyword(s):  
Key Words ◽  
Emmanuel Levinas ◽  
Urban Sociology ◽  
The Other ◽  
Ethical Responsibility ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Per Se ◽  
The Stranger ◽  
The City ◽  
Ethical Demand

Artiklen problematiserer Zygmunt Baumans argument om, at æstetiseringen i den postmoderne by er uforenelig med en virksom etisk ansvarlighed for den fremmede i byen. Denne forståelse er kraftigt inspireret af Emmanuel Lévinas’ fænomenologiske nærhedsetik, der forstår æstetik og etik som antagonistiske fænomener. Med afsæt i denne forståelse anser Bauman æstetiseringen af den Anden, som en maskering af det nøgne ansigt, der ifølge Lévinas er den etiske fordrings kilde. Hermed mødes den Anden ikke som et unikt menneske, men snarere som et overfladisk objekt, der nydes uden etisk ansvar. Artiklen peger på, at Knud E. Løgstrups fænomenologiske nærhedsetik – som Bauman fejlagtigt jævnfører med Levinas’ – tilbyder en interessant alternativ forståelse af forholdet imellem æstetik og etik: Ifølge Løgstrup har æstetikken nemlig forrang for etikken. Artiklens afgørende argument bliver i lyset heraf, at den etiske fordring som den Anden stiller, forudsætter at jeg er i kontakt med dennes liv, hvilket netop sker i den æstetiske sansning. Den æstetiske maskering af den Anden kan således ikke per se afskrives som en uetisk objektificering, men rummer snarere potentialet til, at jeg på sanselig-æstetisk vis kommer i stemt nærvær med det liv, der fordrer mig etisk. ENGELSK ABSTRACT: Lasse Suonperä Liebst: Ethics in the Masked City The article questions Zygmunt Bauman’s argument that the aesthetization of the postmodern city is incompatible with the existence of an ethical responsibility towards the stranger in the city. This argument stems from Emmanuel Lévinas’ phenomenological ethics of proximity according to which aesthetical and ethical phenomena are antagonistic. Bauman’s lévinasian argument is based on the assumption that the aesthetization of The Other in the city veils the naked face which, according to Lévinas, is ethically demanding. This way, The Other is not faced as a unique human being, but rather as a masked and fungible object, which can be enjoyed without any responsibility. In this article it is argued that Knud E. Løgstrup’s phenomenological ethics of proximity, which Bauman sees as nearly equivalent to Lévinas’ ethics, offers an alternative theoretical concep-tualization. According to Løgstrup, the aesthetics has primacy over the ethical: The ethical demand of The Other presupposes that I am in contact with the life of The Other which takes place in a sensuous-aesthetic way. The aesthetical masking of The Other, thus, is not per se an unethical objectification, but rather a sensuous way to become ethical demanded by the Other. Key words: Zygmunt Bauman, Knud E. Løgstrup, Emmanuel Lévinas, urban sociology, aesthetization, ethics of proximity.

Dark Ecology Between Discourse and Otherness

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 33-56
Keyword(s):  
Distinctive Feature ◽  
Emmanuel Levinas ◽  
Theoretical Language ◽  
The Other ◽  
Industrial Society ◽  
Speculative Realism ◽  
To Come ◽  
New Democracy ◽  
Dark Ecology ◽  
Special Case

In contrast to the more popular interpretations of Timothy Morton’s dark ecology as one more example of speculative realism, the article suggests regarding it argue as a special case of Jacques Derrida’s deconstruction. By examining Morton’s earlier writing, the author demonstrates that it extends the deconstructionist structure of argumentation by criticizing ecological discourse in order to justify dark ecology. Derrida revealed the violent structure of writing as the basis of the logocentric myth, and Morton has similarly shown that the Romantic idea of a harmonious Nature came about as a result of the consumerism of the privileged classes in modern industrial society. Explication of this connection exposes limitations that are significant for dark ecology in Morton’s interpretation of Derrida, which ignores Derrida’s criticism of various attempts to emancipate otherness. Examination of Derrida’s texts shows that they do not deconstruct logocentrism but argue against the alternatives offered by Michel Foucault and Emmanuel Levinas. Deconstruction therefore continues to operate symmetrically on them. From a similar viewpoint, Morton’s use of dark metaphors appears unjustified because it does not recognize the possibility of deconstructing darkness rather than light. However, Derrida’s solution - his concept of the democracy to come - is incompatible with Morton’s resort to the concept of a hyperobject. Morton’s ecology should instead be read as a theoretical language, indifferent to the dichotomy between light and darkness and descriptive of a new democracy, the distinctive feature of which is the inevitable proximity of the Other.

“You Don’t Know Who This Man Is”: Hospitality and Trauma in Alexandra Wood’s The Human Ear

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-249
Author(s):  
Büşra Erdurucan
Keyword(s):  
Jacques Derrida ◽  
Emmanuel Levinas ◽  
The Other ◽  
Bomb Attack ◽  
To Come ◽  
Human Ear ◽  
The Stranger ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract This paper explores the themes of hospitality and trauma in Alexandra Wood’s The Human Ear (2015) by focusing on the modes of encounter with the Other in the play. As Lucy, a woman in her twenties, tries to come to terms with the death of her mother as a result of an unspecified bomb attack, she finds out that her estranged brother, Jason, killed himself. In the meantime, however, a man who claims to be her brother keeps turning up at her door, and through these encounters we can trace the possibilities and limits of hospitality. By referring to the theories of Emmanuel Levinas, Jacques Derrida, and Sara Ahmed on home and hospitality, this paper argues that in The Human Ear, the redefinition of the relationship with the Other is represented as a means to come to terms with trauma as Lucy’s process of welcoming the stranger is connected to her process of healing from trauma.

scholarly journals Humanisme Bagi Sesama – Menyingkap Akar Kekerasan Dalam Relasi Antarmanusia Dan Etika Tanggung Jawab Menurut Emmanuel Levinas

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (29) ◽  
pp. 137-157
Author(s):  
Editha Soebagiyo
Keyword(s):  
Emmanuel Levinas ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
Ethical Problems ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Moral Theories ◽  
The Face ◽  
Original Relation ◽  
Ethical Demand

This article contains the most fundamental text of Emmanuel Levinas. His unique contribution is his argument that the morality is not a branch of philosophy, but first philosophy (TI 304). His starting point is the actual concrete encounter, with the “face” of the other, that underlies our sense of self and identity, and this, in turn is the beginning of Levinas’ understanding of what Philosophy is. Philosophy begins with the other and ethics is undertood as a relation of infinite responsibility to the other person. By this, he means that when we face someone, before we decide to respond others (to wish someone “great day”, to give or not to give money to a beggar), we are already put into a relationship with them. This is the reason why he calls that relationship ‘the original relation’. This unconditional responsibility is not something we take on or a rule by which we agree to be bound, it exists before us and we are ‘thrown’ into inexhaustible responsibility for them without any choice.  Although his big idea is not adequate for the solution of all our ethical problems, we find the strength of Levinas’ position in reminding us to the nature of ethical demand, which must be presupposed at the basis of all moral theories.

scholarly journals The Possibility/Impossibility of Ethical Community during the COVID-19 Pandemic: a Philosophical Reflection

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-243
Author(s):  
Shining Star Lyngdoh
Keyword(s):  
Emmanuel Levinas ◽  
The Other ◽  
Community Life ◽  
Philosophical Reflection ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Ability To Act ◽  
The Face ◽  
Meaningful Engagement ◽  
Global Concern ◽  
Ethical Demand

AbstractThe outbreak of COVID-19 has raised a global concern and calls for an urgent response. During this perpetual time of epidemic crisis, philosophy has to stand on trial and provide a responsible justification for how it is still relevant and can be of used during this global crisis. In such a time of crisis like that of COVID-19, this paper offers a philosophical reflection from within the possibility/impossibility of community thinking in India, and the demand for an ethical responsivity and response-ability to act ethically towards the Other (autrui) to show that philosophy always already emerges from within the context of crisis. As an alternative outlook to the thinking of totalitarian singularity and individualism, community—in its possible and impossible making—can offer more meaningful engagement with the other human being by being responsible and extending care towards the Other. The thinking of a shared community life is the facticity of one’s own being-together-in-common without the dismissal of individual differences as can be seen in the works of Jean-Luc Nancy, and there is an ethical demand that comes from the face-to-face ethical relationship with the Other as argued by Emmanuel Levinas.

Confronting Kant and Kierkegaard

2019 ◽  
pp. 202-247
Author(s):  
Robert Stern
Keyword(s):  
Practical Reason ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
The Other ◽  
Sense Making ◽  
Divine Command ◽  
Ethical Obligation ◽  
Right Reason ◽  
The Right ◽  
Ethical Demand

This chapter considers in more detail how it is that the kind of natural law approach embodied in Løgstrup’s ‘ontological ethics’ puts him at odds with both Kant and Kierkegaard, and leads him to convict them of formalism. Løgstrup’s claim is that by failing to adopt his approach, neither Kant nor Kierkegaard can do justice to the ethical demand, as they see it as deriving from the authority of a commander. The difficulty is that such authority is ‘content-independent’ in H. L. A. Hart’s sense, making the reason to act that one has been commanded, rather than the vulnerability of the other person, which in these situations should be the right reason on which to act. If Løgstrup is correct, it is argued that his critique also has significant implications against contemporary attempts to ground ethical obligation in the authority of practical reason and divine command respectively.

On the Origins of Political Societies and the Principles which are the Basis of their Organisation.

2019 ◽  
pp. 24-99
Author(s):  
Jean Allain
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
The Other ◽  
Division Of Powers ◽  
Societal Norms ◽  
Law Of Nations ◽  
The Law ◽  
To Come

Book One considers the origins and formation of societies into States around Rayneval’s leitmotiv of self-preservation, as the essence of natural law. In so doing, Rayneval is setting the foundation for his examination of the Law of Nations to come in Books Two and Three. Within Book One, he considers the inner workings of a State: its societal norms; forms of government; and the division of powers as between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Rayneval then turns his attention to the place of law within a society and the objectives of public, private and criminal law; while dealing with the other, diverse, dynamics at play within a State including religion, education, and honour.

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