Ethics, Politics, Subjectivity: Essays on Derrida, Levinas and Contemporary French Thought

by Simon Critchley

In Ethics–Politics–Subjectivity , Simon Critchley takes up three questions at the centre of contemporary theoretical What is ethical experience? What can be said of the subject who has this experience? What, if any, is the relation of ethical experience to politics?

These questions are approached by way of a critical confrontation with a number of major thinkers, including Lacan, Genet, Blanchot, Nancy, Rorty and, in particular, Levinas and Derrida. Critchley offers a critical reconstruction of Levinas’s notion of ethical experience and, questioning the religious pietism and political conservatism of the dominant interpretation of Levinas’s work, develops an ethics of finitude which, far from being tragic, opens on to an experience of humour and the comic. Using this reading of Levinas as a way of unlocking the rich ethical potential of Derrida’s work, Critchley outlines and defends the political possibilities of deconstruction. On the basis of Derrida’s recent work, Critchley attempts to rethink notions of friendship, democracy, economics and technology.

Genres: Philosophy

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Simon Critchley (born 27 February 1960 in Hertfordshire) is an English philosopher currently teaching at The New School. He works in continental philosophy. Critchley argues that philosophy commences in disappointment, either religious or political. These two axes may be said largely to inform his published work: religious disappointment raises the question of meaning and has to, as he sees it, deal with the problem of nihilism; political disappointment provokes the question of justice and raises the need for a coherent ethics [...]

Reviews

[Mariam Rawwas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, I think I'm just burned out on the whole Levinasian problematic of it all, and I also don't think that Levinas and Derrida (or Levinas and Lacan, for that matter) are as reconcilable as this volume seems to suggest. The subject matter being discussed is sometimes interesting (Derrida on Hegel on Antigone, Genet in Palestine, Gilroy's The Black Atlantic, etc.), but the readings don't seem particularly strong, nor do they lend a very particular voice to Critchley as an author. I suppose I never really gave this a chance having already soured on the author, but it doesn't seem like there's much here (multiple chapters are dedicated to refuting Rorty's claim that Derrida is exclusively a private ironist and therefore not also a public intellectual, for example, a point that I find banally true).

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting, if somewhat meandering tour of ethics and subjectivity. I was reading this to get a little more context and it was interesting in that regard. I would have liked some more interaction between Levinas and Heidegger. Although their concerns are in some ways different, with Heidegger more concerned with ontology and Levinas more with "otherness," I feel like they are both trying to get at ethics and subjectivity in a similar fashion. I also would have like more on the "hostage" ethics of Levinas, although the way this grafted onto Lacanian ethics was very helpful. It's a good book if you are looking to get some context and consider where your interests might lie in regard to ethics and subjectivity.

[Benjamin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although the final chapter does pull all of the threads together, the general meandering through the workds of Derrida, Heidegger and Levinas- while interesting- doesn't quite make the resolution that convincing. A nice wander through the thoughts and influences that Critchley has, including a nice spat with Rorty (more fully fleshed out in Deconstruction and Pragmatism, edited by Chantal Mouffe) but not as focussed as something like "Infinitely Demanding".