Sensibility and Singularity: The Problem of Phenomenology in Levinas (SUNY series in Contemporary Continental Philosophy) - Hardcover

Drabinski, John E.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0791448975 ISBN 13: 9780791448977

Publisher: State University of New York Press, 2001

Synopsis

Is Emmanuel Levinas a dismissive critic of Husserlian phenomenology, or an important member of its movement? The standard account of Levinas's work assumes his distance from Husserl. In opposition to this account, Sensibility and Singularity contends that Husserl was a vital, living resource for Levinas throughout his philosophical career. The singularity of the Other is the centerpiece of Levinas's thought. The philosophical significance of this singularity, however, cannot be fully appreciated without attending to Levinas's transformation of the Husserlian themes of time, materiality, intentionality, and sense. This book documents those transformations and establishes their centrality to Levinas's notion of ethics. What emerges from this reading is a thorough account of Levinas's constant and productive debate with the Husserlian tradition of phenomenology.

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Review:

"John Drabinski presents a careful and much needed study of Levinas's persistant and problematic preoccupation with the phenomenology of Edmund Husserl. Levinas was not only one of the most profound and influential expositors of phenomenology, but his ethical challenge to it is even more important than Heidegger's ontological revision of it. This is required reading." -- Richard A. Cohen, author of Elevations: The Height of the Good in Rosenzweig and Levinas

"This is the first sustained and systematic attempt to work out the significance of Husserl's phenomenology for Levinas's thought, together with the significance of Levinas's critical appropriation of this 'phenomenology' for his own thought. It is both original and very promising." -- Burt Hopkins, author of Intentionality in Husserl and Heidegger: The Problem of Original Method and Phenomenon of Phenomenology

Synopsis:

Drabinski (philosophy, Grand Valley State University) argues that Husserl was a vital resource for Levinas throughout his philosophical career. He documents Levinas' transformation of the Husserlian themes of time, materiality, intentionality, and sense, placing them centrally within Levinas' ethical work. What emerges is an account of Levinas' con

About this edition

• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0791448975
• ISBN 13: 9780791448977
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 267