French philosopher and Talmudic commentator Emmanuel Levinas (1906-1995) is best known for his two major, highly original works on ethics, Totality and Infinity (1961) and Otherwise Than Being or Beyond Essence (1974). Among his lesser known works is a short but remarkable essay published in 1934, "Refections on the Philosophy of Hitlerism," in which he considers German conservatism and the Nazi movement, and reflects on Western philosophy's capacity to insure itself against 'elemental evil.' Difficult Justice uses this essay as an introduction to a collection of papers on Levinas's ethical and political thought.
In this volume editors Asher and Gad Horowitz bring together contributors from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds to explore how Levinas's work relates to a broad range of contemporary philosophical and political questions. In particular, they examine Levinas's challenge to liberalism 'to find another kinship for man ... absolutely opposed to oppression,' and his movement beyond liberalism to embrace 'the claim of the Other.' This thought-provoking collection will not only be invaluable to Levinas scholars, it will also be of interest to those working in the areas of Jewish studies, women's studies, and political theory.
Contributors:
Keith Anderson
Shannon Bell
Robert Bernasconi
Mielle Chandler
Tina Chanter
Marinos Diamantides
Rosalyn Diprose
Enrique Dussel
Oona Eisenstadt
Robert Gibbs
Asher Horowitz
Gad Horowitz
Ze'ev Levy
Joseph Rosen
Brian Schroeder
Victoria Tahmasebi
Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments
Contributors
INTRODUCTION
Reflections on the Philosophy of Hitlerism
EMMANUEL LEVINAS
Is Liberalism All We Need? Prelude via Fascism
ASHER HOROWITZ and GAD HOROWITZ
ESSAYS
Beyond Rational Peace: On the Possibility/Necessity of a Levinasian Hyperpolitics
ASHER HOROWITZ
Hands that Give and Hands That Take: The Politics of the Feminine in Levinas
TINA CHANTER
Levinas in the Key of the Political
OONA EISENSTADT
‘The Politics’ by Levinas: Towards a ‘Critical’ Political Philosophy
ENRIQUE DUSSEL
Hemorrhage and Filiality: Towards a Fecundation of the Political
MIELLE CHANDLER
Levinas and Alterity Politics
SHANNON BELL
Public Transgressions: Levinas and Arendt
KEITH ANDERSON
Can Fig Trees Grow on Mountains? Reversing the Question of Great Politics
BRIAN SCHROEDER
Levinas, Nietzsche, and Benjamin’s ‘Divine Violence’
VICTORIA TAHMASEBI
From Escape to Hostage
MARINOS DIAMANTIDES
The Ethics and Politics of the Handshake: Levinas, Merleau-Ponty, and Nancy
ROSALYN DIPROSE
Strangers and Slaves in the Land of Egypt: Levinas and the Politics of Otherness
ROBERT BERNASCONI
Levinas’s Jewish Perspective on State, Revolution and Utopia
ZE’EV LEVY
Levinas, the Messianic, and the Question of History
ROBERT GIBBS
From a Memory beyond Memory to a State beyond the State
JOSEPH ROSEN
Aporia and Messiah in Derrida and Levinas
GAD HOROWITZ
About the Author :
Asher Horowitz is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at York University.
Gad Horowitz is a professor emeritus in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto.
