On the Advantages and Disadvantages of Ethics and Politics (Studies in Continental Thought) - Softcover

Scott, Charles E.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0253210763 ISBN 13: 9780253210760

Publisher: Indiana University Press (IPS), 1996

Synopsis

... remarkable account of the impact of postmodern philosophy on the question of ethics and politics... commendable also for its balanced view of Heidegger's relationship to politics and ethics.... an excellent account of Heidegger's philosophical understanding of technology..." -Choice This book takes as its point of departure the question of ethics: that values and their pursuit in the West often perpetuate their own worst enemies. At issue are the dangers in the structures and movements of images, values, and ways of knowing that are most intimately a part of our lives.

About this title

Review:

Scott (Pennsylvania State Univ.), a leading author in the field of American Continental philosophy, writes from a vantage point beyond ethics, though the essence of beyond here is neither hostile to ethics nor standing above the ethical domain. He claims that Nietzsche and such contemporary philosophers as Heidegger, Levinas, Foucault, and Derrida argue persuasively that we no longer can think and justify our acts within the traditional framework of transcendence. Nevertheless, this does not imply an absence of ethics or renunciation of the legitimacy of ethical concerns. In fact Scott celebrates this apparent loss of transcendence as what frees ethics from its excess. This remarkable account of the impact of postmodern philosophy on the question of ethics and politics is particularly insightful in discussing the genealogical approach to practical philosophy that characterizes the work of Nietzsche and Foucault. The work is commendable also for its balanced view of Heidegger's relationship to politics and ethics. Scott offers an excellent account of Heidegger's philosophical understanding of technology, seeing evidence there of both of a lingering moral asceticism and a mode of temporally rooted questioning that overcomes ethical subjectivity and its notion of responsibility. Upper division undergraduate; graduate; faculty.W. A. Brogan, Villanova University, 1997oct CHOICE."

Scott (Pennsylvania State Univ.), a leading author in the field of American Continental philosophy, writes from a vantage point beyond ethics, though the essence of beyond here is neither hostile to ethics nor standing above the ethical domain. He claims that Nietzsche and such contemporary philosophers as Heidegger, Levinas, Foucault, and Derrida argue persuasively that we no longer can think and justify our acts within the traditional framework of transcendence. Nevertheless, this does not imply an absence of ethics or renunciation of the legitimacy of ethical concerns. In fact Scott celebrates this apparent loss of transcendence as what frees ethics from its excess. This remarkable account of the impact of postmodern philosophy on the question of ethics and politics is particularly insightful in discussing the genealogical approach to practical philosophy that characterizes the work of Nietzsche and Foucault. The work is commendable also for its balanced view of Heidegger's relationship to politics and ethics. Scott offers an excellent account of Heidegger's philosophical understanding of technology, seeing evidence there of both of a lingering moral asceticism and a mode of temporally rooted questioning that overcomes ethical subjectivity and its notion of responsibility. Upper--division undergraduate; graduate; faculty.W. A. Brogan, Villanova University, 1997oct CHOICE.

Synopsis:

This book takes as its point of departure the question of ethics: that values and their pursuit in the West often perpetuate their own worst enemies. At issue are the dangers in the structures and movements of images, values, and ways of knowing that are most intimately a part of our lives. Charles E. Scott engages the thought of Nietzsche, Heidegger, Foucault, and Levinas. Nietzsche's and Foucault's genealogical approaches confront Heidegger's deconstructive thought, and the religious thought of Levinas. In this encounter, a way of thinking emerges that makes evident the advantages of the nonethical and the nonpolitical for ethical and political life.

About this edition

• Publisher: Indiana University Press (IPS)
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0253210763
• ISBN 13: 9780253210760
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 232