Radicalizing Levinas (SUNY series in Radical Social and Political Theory) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1438430973 ISBN 13: 9781438430973

Publisher: State University of New York Press, 2010

Synopsis

Levinas ahead of his time―and himself―on politics, postcolonialism and globalization, animals and the environment, and science and technology.

Radicalizing Levinas initiates a third wave of Levinas scholarship. If the first wave was aimed at commentary and exposition, and the second focused on situating Levinas with the context of poststructuralism and deconstruction, the third wave is an explicit attempt to situate and explore his work in the context of current social and political problems. A short list of these are: civil war in Iraq, ethnic cleansing in Sudan, ongoing fighting between Palestinians and Israelis, and suicide bombings. Alongside these evils we hear of school shootings, global warming, widespread famine, immeasurable animal suffering, environmental decay, and increasing social and personal disorganization. How can a Levinasian ethics help us make sense of this? Levinas scholars respond and help move from theory to practice by addressing such topics as global justice, feminism, environmentalism, animal liberation, postcolonialism, radical democracy, technology and cybernetics, and psychotherapy. This book is for anyone seeking to understand better how philosophy can inform contemporary life.

About this title

About the Author

Peter Atterton is Associate Professor of Philosophy at San Diego State University.
Matthew Calarco is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Califormia State University, Fullerton. Together they have coauthored On Levinas and coedited Animal Philosophy: Ethics and identity; The Continental Ethics Reader; and (with Maurice Friedman) Levinas and Buber: Dialogue and Difference.

Edition details

• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1438430973
• ISBN 13: 9781438430973
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 231
• Editor: Atterton Peter, Calarco Matthew