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Aspects of Alterity - Levinas, Marcel, and the Contemporary Debate (Hardcover)
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Aspects of Alterity - Levinas, Marcel, and the Contemporary Debate (Hardcover)
Series: Perspectives in Continental Philosophy
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"Every other is truly other, but no other is wholly other." This is
the claim that Aspects of Alterity defends. Taking up the question
of otherness that so fascinates contemporary continental
philosophy, this book asks what it means for something or someone
to be other than the self. Levinas and those influenced by him
point out that the philosophical tradition of the West has
generally favored the self at the expense of the other. Such a
self-centered perspective never encounters the other qua other,
however. In response, postmodern thought insists on the absolute
otherness of the other, epitomized by the deconstructive claim
"every other is wholly other." But absolute otherness generates
problems and aporias of its own. This has led some thinkers to
reevaluate the notion of relative otherness in light of the
postmodern critique, arguing for a chiastic account that does
justice to both the alterity and the similitude of the other. These
latter two positions-absolute otherness and a rehabilitated account
of relative otherness-are the main contenders in the contemporary
debate. The philosophies of Emmanuel Levinas and Gabriel Marcel
provide the point of embarkation for coming to understand the two
positions on this question. Levinas and Marcel were contemporaries
whose philosophies exhibit remarkably similar concern for the other
but nevertheless remain fundamentally incompatible. Thus, these two
thinkers provide a striking illustration of both the proximity of
and the unbridgeable gap between two accounts of otherness. Aspects
of Alterity delves into this debate, first in order understand the
issues at stake in these two positions and second to determine
which description better accounts for the experience of
encountering the other. After a thorough assessment and critique of
otherness in Levinas's and Marcel's work, including a discussion of
the relationship of ethical alterity to theological assumptions,
Aspects of Alterity traces the transmission and development of
these two conceptions of otherness. Levinas's version of otherness
can be seen in the work of Jacques Derrida and John D. Caputo,
while Marcel's understanding of otherness influences the work of
Paul Ricoeur and Richard Kearney. Ultimately, Aspects of Alterity
makes a case for a hermeneutic account of otherness. Otherness
itself is not absolute, but is a chiasm of alterity and similitude.
Properly articulated, such an account is capable of addressing the
legitimate ethical and epistemological concerns that lead thinkers
to construe otherness in absolute terms, but without the "absolute
aporias" that accompany such a characterization.
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