Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
publishedVersion
Publication Date
3-2006
Abstract
This article considers the affinities in the socio-political thought of Emmanuel Levinas and Richard Rorty. The writings of both display considerable concern for the suffering of others. Both authors note the importance of a self-critical subject becoming more aware of its own injustice as very important for recognizing our responsibilities to others. Furthermore, both stress the importance of recognizing the other outside of the usual, objectifying categories, since it is the uniqueness of the other that reminds us of our responsibility for the other. Both writers view the liberal state as the best political forum in which to realize a fuller recognition of and responsibility towards the other, a form of state in which the ethical constantly interrupts the political. Rorty and Levinas disagree, however, on the legitimacy of not responding to the other.
Keywords
Critchley, irony, justice, Levinas, liberal state, reponsibility, Rorty, sentimental education
Discipline
Ethics and Political Philosophy
Research Areas
Political Science
Publication
Philosophy and Social Criticism
Volume
32
Issue
2
First Page
193
Last Page
209
ISSN
0191-4537
Identifier
10.1177/0191453706061092
Publisher
SAGE
Citation
JORDAAN, Eduard.(2006). Affinities in the Socio-Political Thought of Rorty and Levinas. Philosophy and Social Criticism, 32(2), 193-209.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/391
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1177/0191453706061092