Political Responsibility For A Globalised World: After Levinas’ Humanism

Description

The aim of this book is to reflect on the complex practice of responsibility within the context of a globalised world and contemporary means of action. Levinas' exploration of the ethical serves as point of entry and is shown to be seeking inter-cultural political relevance through engagement with the issues of postcoloniality and humanism. Yet, Levinas fails to realise the ethical implications of the inevitable instrumental mediation between ethical meaning and political practice. With recourse to Weber, Apel and Ricoeur, Ernst Wolff proposes a theory of strategic co-responsibility for the uncertain global context of practice. Cover......Page 1 Table of contents......Page 8 Preface......Page 12 INTRODUCTION......Page 16 1 Orientation: Levinas as political philosopher......Page 18 2 “There are always at least three…”: Urgency and primacy of the political relation......Page 20 2.1 The constitution of political meaning......Page 22 2.2 Politics: the indispensable translation of the Saying to the Said......Page 24 3 Clarifications on the title......Page 29 PART 1. ETHICS AFTER THE COLONIES: THE GLOBAL SCOPE OF LEVINAS’ POLITICAL THOUGHT......Page 34 Chapter 2. Ethnography, atheism, decolonisation......Page 36 1.1 “To be is to participate”......Page 37 1.2 Heidegger, nostalgia, cruelty and the eclipse of monotheism......Page 43 1.3 Ethnography, ontology and socio-political criticism......Page 46 2 Claude Lévi-Strauss, decolonisation and indifference......Page 51 3 Conclusion: the politics of Levinas’ philosophy of alterity......Page 56 1 From situated thought to global consequences......Page 60 2 Decolonisation, colonisation: figures of the global......Page 62 3 For a globalised world......Page 69 PART 2. LEVINAS’ POST-ANTI-HUMANIST HUMANISM AND AFTER......Page 78 Chapter 4. Humanism and anti-humanism in Levinas’ reflection on Jewish education......Page 84 1 “For a Hebraic humanism”......Page 85 2 “Anti-humanism and education”......Page 94 3 Universalism and authority: an uncertain conclusion......Page 101 4 Changing of the guards: Talmudic humanism and a philosophical post-anti-humanist humanism......Page 103 Chapter 5. Levinas’ post-anti-humanist humanism: Humanism of the other......Page 106 1 First attempts at a political and ontological formulation of the problem......Page 108 2 The crisis of humanism......Page 115 2.1 End of the subject......Page 117 2.2 Questioning the rationality of the animal rationale......Page 118 2.3 Cultural relativity or the death of God......Page 119 3 Humanism and ethicity......Page 122 4 “Ethical culture” and the “cultural and aesthetic notion of meaning”......Page 128 5 “Real humanism”: an un-likely family portrait......Page 135 5.1 Sartre: humanism as existentialism......Page 137 5.2 Heidegger: “humanism” in the extreme sense......Page 139 5.3 Althusser: humanism as ideology......Page 143 1 Universalism and particularism: Marion and Bernasconi......Page 148 2 Responsibility and irresponsibility......Page 152 2.1 Can a Levinasian kill? From the original contradiction to the participation of practice in the meaning of the ethical......Page 153 2.2 Infinite responsibility and the polysemy of transgression......Page 158 2.3 Mediation: the irreducible political condition of responsibility......Page 163 3 After Levinas......Page 167 PART 3. POLITICAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR A GLOBALISED WORLD......Page 176 1 An inhospitable world: disenchantment and polytheism in Weber and Levinas......Page 180 2 Levinas: a Gesinnungsethiker or a Verantwortungsethiker?......Page 184 2.1 The prima facie case for Levinas as “ethicist of principle”......Page 185 2.2 Levinas as political “ethicist of responsibility”......Page 190 2.3 Responsibility elevated to principle or principle elevated to responsibility?......Page 201 1 Justification: Apel and the unavoidability of responsibility......Page 206 2 From a Weberian Apel to a Weberian Levinas......Page 210 3 Four objectives for a theory of political responsibility......Page 214 Chapter 9. Ricoeur’s contribution to a notion of political responsibility for a globalised world......Page 222 1 Ricoeur’s political paradox and appropriation of Weber......Page 223 2 From the political paradox to its integration in the “Little ethics”......Page 235 3 Political action between capacities and conflict......Page 238 4 Responsibility, prudence, collaboration, equity......Page 245 4.1 Remarks on the resources: Levinas and Ricoeur......Page 246 4.2 Ambiguity concerning Ricoeur’s use of the notion of responsibility......Page 249 4.3 Towards a political responsibility for a globalised world......Page 254 CONCLUSION. FOR A “GOOD ENOUGH” JUSTICE......Page 268 1 Abbreviations......Page 274 2 General Bibliography......Page 278