Levinas and the Possibility of Dialogue with “Strangers”

Bibliographic Data

ID8410022
AuthorsBenda Hofmeyr (0000-0002-7601-6127, University of Pretoria, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume47
Issue2
Pages174-189
Publication date2016-04-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of the British Society for Phenomenology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0007-1773 • E-ISSN: 2332-0486
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00071773.2016.1139929
OpenAlexW2318968971
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited11

This programmatic essay explores some of the challenges that a seemingly quintessential \nEuropean or Continental philosopher such as Levinas faces when his thought on alterity and on \nthe responsibility we bear towards the Other, is brought face-to-face with other (non-Western) \nways of thinking alterity and especially difference(s). Given the fact that Levinas‟s entire oeuvre \nis dedicated to exposing the violent reductionism at work in Western philosophy, a colonizing \ntradition par excellence that establishes its self-certainty by way of usurping anything and \neverything that is other-than-itself, such an encounter seems critical. Yet, Levinas and his \nthinking seem to be burdened with a number of inherent biases that severely compromise any possibility of dialogue. These include the fact that Levinas‟s notion of an abstract Alterity does \nnot account for differences; his undeniable Eurocentric bias and racist prejudice; and finally, the \nirreconcilability of ethics and politics in this thinking. This essay attempts to address these \nindictments head on an attempt to prepare the ground for future research that will endeavour to \nstage an actual encounter between Levinas and his non-Western counterparts

Epistemology · Digital Media and Philosophy · Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy · Philosophy · Philosophy, Ethics, and Existentialism

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub