The Event of the Good

Christopher Buckman

ISBN 13: 9798855802689

Published by State University of New York Press, US, 2025

About this Item

Centers on the ethics of Emmanuel Levinas, aiming to understand this important thinker on his own terms.To read Levinas in a Levinasian way means to understand this important thinker on his own terms, thinking "ethics as first philosophy," without reducing his role to that of a contributor to some other discourse, such as phenomenology, deconstruction, or religious traditions other than his own. This volume offers a variety of interventions into how the priority of the ethical-as formulated by Emmanuel Levinas and seconded by Richard A. Cohen, one of his preeminent interpreters-reorients philosophy to its own questioning-indeed, to its very sense of itself as meaningful. In the decades since Levinas first emerged as a profound and critical voice, many have used his thought to illuminate a broad range of philosophical questions. Often this has occurred in ways that have deemphasized or altered what is arguably Levinas's most radical gesture: reframing philosophy, indeed reframing the meaning of meaning, via an ethical turn. To this end, the essays in this volume, drawing especially on Cohen's reading of Levinas, offer insights into how appropriations and assessments of his philosophy might become more in line with the urgency and full meaning of his notion of the ethical. Whether discussing ethics, aesthetics, politics, or Jewish thought, when taken together, they enhance our comprehension of ethics and Levinas's philosophy of responsibility.

Seller Inventory # LU-9798855802689

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Event of the Good
• Publisher: State University of New York Press, US
• Publication Date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 13: 9798855802689
• Binding: Hardback
• Condition: New
• Weight: 703 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Centers on the ethics of Emmanuel Levinas, aiming to understand this important thinker on his own terms.

To read Levinas in a Levinasian way means to understand this important thinker on his own terms, thinking "ethics as first philosophy," without reducing his role to that of a contributor to some other discourse, such as phenomenology, deconstruction, or religious traditions other than his own. This volume offers a variety of interventions into how the priority of the ethical-as formulated by Emmanuel Levinas and seconded by Richard A. Cohen, one of his preeminent interpreters-reorients philosophy to its own questioning-indeed, to its very sense of itself as meaningful. In the decades since Levinas first emerged as a profound and critical voice, many have used his thought to illuminate a broad range of philosophical questions. Often this has occurred in ways that have deemphasized or altered what is arguably Levinas's most radical gesture: reframing philosophy, indeed reframing the meaning of meaning, via an ethical turn. To this end, the essays in this volume, drawing especially on Cohen's reading of Levinas, offer insights into how appropriations and assessments of his philosophy might become more in line with the urgency and full meaning of his notion of the ethical. Whether discussing ethics, aesthetics, politics, or Jewish thought, when taken together, they enhance our comprehension of ethics and Levinas's philosophy of responsibility.

About the Author

Christopher Buckman is Lecturer in Philosophy at Indiana University Kokomo. Melissa Bradley teaches history at the secondary school level in Charlotte, North Carolina. Jack Marsh teaches Bible Studies at the Inter-American School, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. James McLachlan is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Religion at Western Carolina University.