- Paperback: 224 pages
- Publisher: Columbia University Press; New edition edition (Mar 29 2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0231116519
- ISBN-13: 978-0231116510
- Product Dimensions: 21.4 x 13.9 x 1.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 181 g
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #636,289 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
Review
Alterity and Transcendence displays Levinas's philosophical thinking very well. It is of particular interest to those who try philosophically to ground legal terms such as human rights and especially human dignity without reference to political consensus or foundational explanations. Review of Metaphysics
Book Description
Internationally renowned as one of the great French philosophers of the twentieth century, the late Emmanuel Levinas remains a pivotal figure across the humanistic disciplines for his insistence -- against the grain of Western philosophical tradition -- on the primacy of ethics in philosophical investigation. This first English translation of a series of twelve essays known as Alterity and Transcendence offers a unique glimpse of Levinas defining his own place in the history of philosophy. Published by a mature thinker between 1967 and 1989, these works exhibit a refreshingly accessible perspective that seasoned admirers and newcomers will appreciate. In today's world, where religious conceptions of exalted higher powers are constantly called into question by theoretical investigation and by the powerful influence of science and technology on our understanding of the universe, has the notion of transcendence been stripped of its significance? In Levinas's incisive model, transcendence is indeed alive -- not in any notion of our relationship to a mysterious, sacred realm but in the idea of our worldly, subjective relationships to others. Without presupposing an intimate knowledge of the history of philosophy, Levinas explores the ways in which Plotinus, Descartes, Husserl, and Heidegger have encountered the question of transcendence. In discourses on the concepts of totality and infinity, he locates his own thinking in the context of pre-Socratic philosophers, Aristotle, Leibniz, Spinoza, Kant, and Descartes. Always centering his discussions on the idea of interpersonal relations as the basis of transcendence, Levinas reflects on the rights of individuals (and how they are inextricably linked to those of others), the concept of peace, and the dialogic nature of philosophy. Finally, in interviews conducted by Christian Chabanis and Angelo Bianchi, Levinas responds to key questions not directly addressed in his writings. Throughout, Alterity and Transcendence reveals a commitment to ethics as first philosophy -- obliging modern thinkers to investigate not merely the true but the good.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.ca
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)
11 of 51 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Systematic Search for Values, Jun 8 2000
By Bruce P. Barten - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Alterity and Transcendence (Hardcover)
When I bought this book, I was attempting to catch the crest of a wave in philosophy, expecting a lot of mental activity in the wake of the death of Levinas (1906-1995) to help put my frame of values within the scope of current thought. But I'm more of a modern fragmentist~thinking through expectations is a realm of impossibilities, and not just for me. I had previously struggled with his TOTALITY AND INFINITY, which pits the urge to control multiplicty by having a system that defines a totality against the limitless possibilities offered by multiplicity itself. A reader may find that effort like a good game of chess: being able to visualize a strategy for winning keeps the sense of involvement high, but any attempt to be more involved than Levinas would obviously be a strain. When ALTERITY & TRANSCENDENCE becomes available in paperback, it might be a better guide for those who would like to see what values Levinas was pursuing. I could confine myself to a single page (177) in an interview published in 1985 for my efforts to comprehend the complexity of his answer to the idea, "To religion would belong the task of consolation, not of demonstration." Levinas took the opportunity to demonstrate the existence of an even greater evil. "The seducer knows all the ploys of language and all its ambiguities. . . . The most dangerous of seducers is the one who carries you away with pious words to violence and contempt for the other man." Instead of trying to create a clear distinction between religion and philosophy, Levinas showed an awareness of the ways of this world, where any dialectic is capable of being a threat to human freedom when it declares war on that for which it expresses disapproval. This is theology when it involves "the voice and 'accent' of God in the Scriptures themselves." As a modern fragmentist, I have hopelessly confused what is actually written there, but that tendency is as strong as the urge to associate The Beach Boys with songs about surfing.
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Nonfiction > Philosophy > Metaphysics
- Books > Nonfiction > Philosophy > Movements > Deconstruction
- Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
