The Unbearable Burden of Levinasian Ethics
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3774967 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jay Rajiva (320 Lonsdale Road #38TorontoOntario M4V1X4Canada, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2013 |
| Volume | 18 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 135-148 |
| Publication date | 2013-12-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Angelaki (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0969-725X • E-ISSN: 1469-2899 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/0969725x.2013.869028 |
| OpenAlex | W2068675816 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 3 |
Levinas's treatment of persecution as the inaugural basis of ethical responsibility tacitly relies on the ethical subject's availability for seduction through an invitation to profane the beloved that is the obverse of the face. Using Jean Laplanche's conception of the enigmatic signifier, I interpret the face–beloved dyad as a pathological response to the primary, overwhelming, and persecutory demand of the breast on the infant. Furthermore, I suggest that Levinas refuses to acknowledge what precedes the anxiety of the enigmatic signifier – the encounter with spacing and temporality that announces the subject into the world. Finally, I challenge the viability of an ethical model that relies on a Judeo-Christian notion of non-reciprocity, which forces survivors of violence into an untenable subject position, thereby reifying their continued erasure as ethical subjects
Aesthetics · Epistemology · Objectification · Psychoanalysis · Social science · Sociology · Temporality · Anthropology · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Philosophy · Philosophy, Ethics, and Existentialism · Political Theology and Sovereignty · Psychology
| Citations per year | 0.33 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2023 - 2023 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |