Levinas Law Politics

Download or read book Levinas, Law, Politics written by Marinos Diamantides and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2007-08-07 with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Emmanuel Levinas' re-formulation of subjectivity, responsibility and the good has radically influenced post-structuralist thought. Political and legal theory, however, have only marginally profited from his moral philosophy. Levinas' theme of one's infinite responsibility for the other has often been romanticized by some advocates of multiculturalism and natural justice. In this volume, political theorists, philosophers and legal scholars critically engage with this idealization of Levinas’ ethics. The authors show that his crucial formulation of the idea of 'the other in me' does not offer a quick cure for today's nationalist, racist and religious divides. Nor does his notion of anarchic responsibility provide immediate relief for the agony of dealing with matters of life and death. The rebelliousness of Levinas' thought is rediscovered here and used to challenge preconceptions of social, legal and individual responsibility.