Levinasian Ethics in Conversation: Responsibility and the Other

This book collects chapters from Michael L. Morgan examining how Levinas speaks to various issues in moral, social, and political philosophy. The chapters, half of which are previously unpublished, put Levinas in dialogue with key figures in contemporary Anglo-American and Continental thought. Morgan places Levinas's ideas about responsibility for the other, second-person or face-to-face encounters, and the primacy of ethics in conversation with contemporary philosophers including Stanley Cavell, R. Jay Wallace, Alice Crary, and others. By juxtaposing Levinasian thinking with recent developments in moral, social, and political philosophy, Morgan offers fresh insights into how Levinas's radical ethical stance illuminates pressing questions about second-person relations, moral normativity, and our responsibilities to others. The book bridges traditional divides between philosophical traditions while demonstrating Levinas's continued relevance to twenty-first-century philosophical concerns. Levinasian Ethics in Conversation is essential reading for researchers and graduate students in philosophy, religious studies, Jewish studies, comparative literature, intellectual history, and political theory who are interested in Levinas.