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Guides for the Perplexed
Levinas: A Guide For the Perplexed
Continuum's Guides for the Perplexed are clear, concise, and accessible introductions to thinkers, writers, and subjects that students and readers can find especially challenging―or, indeed, downright bewildering. Concentrating specifically on what it is that makes the subject difficult to fathom, these books explain and explore key themes and ideas, guiding the reader towards a thorough understanding of demanding material. Emmanuel Levinas is one of the most influential ethicists of recent times. The importance and relevance of his work has been recognized and celebrated within philosophy, religion, sociology, political theory, and other disciplines. His writing, however, undoubtedly presents the reader with a significant challenge. Often labyrinthine, paradoxical, and opaque, Levinas' work seeks to articulate a complex ideology and some hard-to-grasp concepts. A Guide for the Perplexed is the ideal text for the student, teacher, or lay reader who wants to develop a full and effective understanding of this major modern philosopher. Focused upon precisely why Levinas is a difficult subject for study, the text guides the reader through the core themes and concepts in his writing, providing a thorough overview of his work. Valuably, the book also emphasizes Levinas's importance for contemporary ethical problems and thinking.
192 pages, Paperback
First published June 8, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 15, 2008
Two quotations:
"Unfortunately, nowadays phenomenology is on the margins of mainstream thought and is no longer associated with any radical movements. Most philosophers do not seem interested in Husserl's intriguing method for slipping out of traditional problems of experience. There are many excellent appraisals of Levinas's relationship with phenomenology, which will not be emphasized in this book. I have made this alarming decision because phenomenological jargon is an insufficient background for interpreting the relevance of Levinas's work" (11).
The above series of contradictory logical clunkers is not, thankfully, representative of the book as a whole. This is just its worst point. Too bad.
This is more representative: "Levinas's efforts on behalf of the ethics of responsibility and laudatory. As a metaphysical visionary, he has offered us a grand, sweeping view of human history and man's proper place within it. However...the stakes are very high. If Levinas is taken to be correct, then nothing less than a radical revision of ethics in particular, and philosophy and its means of application, would be necessary. The problem, of course, consists in whether he can be taken to be correct" (155).
Hutchens' introduction, then, is peculiar for its suspicious testing of its subject. This is no mere guide or loveletter; and, while Levinas would likely accuse Hutchens of engaging in nothing but an ontology of power, I've left the book wanting to read Badiou on ethics and against Levinas (and also Irigaray's assault on Levinas's bizarre and repulsive animalization of the beloved). I am, after all, an atheist, and not in the sense that Levinas is a theistic atheist (or atheistic theist). I mean I don't believe in the One, or at least I believe the One's split by lack..
"Unfortunately, nowadays phenomenology is on the margins of mainstream thought and is no longer associated with any radical movements. Most philosophers do not seem interested in Husserl's intriguing method for slipping out of traditional problems of experience. There are many excellent appraisals of Levinas's relationship with phenomenology, which will not be emphasized in this book. I have made this alarming decision because phenomenological jargon is an insufficient background for interpreting the relevance of Levinas's work" (11).
The above series of contradictory logical clunkers is not, thankfully, representative of the book as a whole. This is just its worst point. Too bad.
This is more representative: "Levinas's efforts on behalf of the ethics of responsibility and laudatory. As a metaphysical visionary, he has offered us a grand, sweeping view of human history and man's proper place within it. However...the stakes are very high. If Levinas is taken to be correct, then nothing less than a radical revision of ethics in particular, and philosophy and its means of application, would be necessary. The problem, of course, consists in whether he can be taken to be correct" (155).
Hutchens' introduction, then, is peculiar for its suspicious testing of its subject. This is no mere guide or loveletter; and, while Levinas would likely accuse Hutchens of engaging in nothing but an ontology of power, I've left the book wanting to read Badiou on ethics and against Levinas (and also Irigaray's assault on Levinas's bizarre and repulsive animalization of the beloved). I am, after all, an atheist, and not in the sense that Levinas is a theistic atheist (or atheistic theist). I mean I don't believe in the One, or at least I believe the One's split by lack..
February 13, 2017
A decent intro book, nothing great. Hutchens does a decent job explaining Levinas' difficult prose in plain English, but it would be nice if some of the sections were more throughly presented.
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June 1, 2009Levinas: A Guide For The Perplexed (Guides for the Perplexed) by B. C. Hutchens (2004)
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews