Synopses & Reviews
Morgan shows how Levinas faces philosophical problems that figure in twentieth-century philosophy and religious thought.
Synopsis
Morgan demystifies Levinas by examining his unfamiliar and surprising vocabulary, interpreting texts with an eye to clarity, and arguing that Levinas can be understood as a philosopher of the everyday. Neither glib dismissal nor fawning acceptance, Morgan provides a sympathetic reading that can form a foundation for a responsible critique.
Synopsis
Morgan shows how Levinas faces central philosophical problems that figure in twentieth-century philosophy and religious thought. He tackles this task by placing Levinas in conversation with philosophers such as Donald Davidson, Stanley Cavell, Onora O'Neill and Charles Taylor. He also seeks to understand Levinas within philosophical, religious, and political developments in the history of twentieth-century intellectual culture. Morgan demystifies Levinas by examining in illuminating ways his unfamiliar and surprising vocabulary, interpreting texts with an eye to clarity, and arguing that Levinas can be understood as a philosopher of the everyday.
About the Author
Michael L. Morgan has been a professor at Indiana University for 31 years and, in 2004, was named a Chancellor's Professor. He has published articles in a variety of journals, edited several collections, and authored four books, most recently, Interim Judaism (2001). He is the coeditor of The Cambridge Companion to Modern Jewish Philosophy.
Table of Contents
1. Auschwitz, politics, and the twentieth century; 2. Phenomenology and transcendental philosophy; 3. The ethical content of the face-to-face; 4. Philosophy, totality, and the everyday; 5. Meaning, culture, and language; 6. Subjectivity and the self; 7. God and philosophy; 8. Time, Messianism, and diachrony; 9. Ethical realism and contemporary moral philosophy; 10. Beyond language and expressibility; 11. Judaism, ethics, and religion; Conclusion: Levinas and the primacy of the ethical: Kant, Kierkegaard, and Derrida; Appendix. Facing reasons: agent-neutral reasons and Levinasian ethics.