Synopses & Reviews
Emmanuel Levinas's Totality and Infinity is a monumental work of phenomenological enquiry that goes on to assert the centrality of ethics to philosophical thought. This Reader's Guide breaks down the occasionally intimidating but always inspirational content of Totality and Infinity for non-specialist readers, unpacking the complexities of Levinas's thought with clarity and rigour. The guide combines a close-reading of the text with the foundations required to engage with Levinas's work - the legacy of Husserl and phenomenologists as well as Jewish philosophers like Hermann Cohen and Franz Rosenzweig - and broader issues and problems of how we might consider ethics today. William Large addresses critics of Levinas's work, like Alain Badiou and Slavoj Žižek, and also considers the political consequences of Levinas's work as problematized by Simon Critchley. The guide offers further assistance by outlining key themes, approaches to reading the text, the reception and influence of the work and secondary reading materials.
Synopsis
Emmanuel Levinas' Totality and Infinity is a monumental work of phenomenological enquiry that goes on to assert the centrality of ethics to philosophical thought. This Reader's Guide provides a detailed explanation of the work, breaking down the occasionally intimidating but always inspirational content of Totality and Infinity for non-specialist readers, unpacking the complexities of Levinas' thought with clarity and rigour.
Ideal for students coming to Levinas for the first time, the book offers essential guidance, outlining key themes, approaches to reading the text, the reception, and influence of the work, and recommends secondary reading materials.
About the Author
William Large is a Reader in Philosophy at University of Gloucestershire, UK. He is the author of Ethics and the Ambiguity of Writing: Emmanuel Levinas and Maurice Blanchot (2005), Maurice Blanchot [co-authored] (2001) and Heidegger's Being and Time (2007)
Table of Contents
Table ofContents
1.Themes and Content
2.Reading the Text
3.Reception and Influence
4.Further Reading
Bibliography
Index