Radicalizing Levinas

Radicalizing Levinas initiates a third wave of Levinas scholarship. If the first wave was aimed at commentary and exposition, and the second focused on situating Levinas within the context of poststructuralism and deconstruction, the third wave is an explicit attempt to situate and explore his work in the context of current social and political problems. A short list of these are: war in the Middle East, colonialism, widespread famine, immeasurable animal suffering, environmental decay, school shootings, and increasing social and personal disorganization. How can a Levinasian ethics help us make sense of this? Levinas scholars respond and help move from theory to practice by addressing such topics as global justice, feminism, environmentalism, animal liberation, postcolonialism, radical democracy, technology and cybernetics, and psychotherapy. This book is for anyone seeking to understand better how philosophy can inform contemporary life.

Peter Atterton is Associate Professor of Philosophy at San Diego State University.
Matthew Calarco is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Califormia State University, Fullerton. Together they have coauthored On Levinas and coedited Animal Philosophy: Ethics and identity; The Continental Ethics Reader; and (with Maurice Friedman) Levinas and Buber: Dialogue and Difference.