JDS 420SEM—Ethics of Emmanuel Levinas

The 20th century philosopher Emmanuel Levinas was a philosopher of ethics, but with a new emphasis: he argued that ethics lies at the foundation of all intelligibility, including that of science, art, technology, politics and religion. Hence he radically challenged the traditional Western privileging of ?the true? over ?the good,? science over ethics. Instead of basing ethics in ?rules? or ?norms,? whether natural or religious, for Levinas the ethical begins in the imperative responsibility one person has for another (morality), to alleviate the other?s suffering, and building on this in the responsibility each person has for everyone else (justice.) The aim of this course is first to explicate Levinas?s thought. It will also highlight its differences from other relevant thinkers, ancient, modern and contemporary.