Universität Wien
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180103 SE Emmanuel Levinas: Ethics as First Philosophy (2011W)

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 18 - Philosophie
Continuous assessment of course work

pünktlicher Beginn und Ende

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 40 participants
Language: German

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Monday 03.10. 16:00 - 17:30 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 10.10. 16:00 - 17:30 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 17.10. 16:00 - 17:30 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 24.10. 16:00 - 17:30 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 31.10. 16:00 - 17:30 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 07.11. 16:00 - 17:30 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 14.11. 16:00 - 17:30 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 21.11. 16:00 - 17:30 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 28.11. 16:00 - 17:30 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 05.12. 16:00 - 17:30 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 12.12. 16:00 - 17:30 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 09.01. 16:00 - 17:30 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 16.01. 16:00 - 17:30 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 23.01. 16:00 - 17:30 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock
  • Monday 30.01. 16:00 - 17:30 Hörsaal 3F NIG 3.Stock

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

The seminar provides a venue to approach the thought of the French philosopher Emmanuel Levinas. It focuses his main thesis concerning an ethics of the other, which calls upon us to understand ethics as first philosophy. In the light of this thesis, we have to consider Levinas’ attempts at deconstructing the totalizing implications of traditional philosophical thought, which he blames for misappropriating the very otherness of the other. Hence, his attempt to found ethics is based upon the extraordinary significance that he finds in the wholly other and her unassimilable otherness.
Levinas’ thinking of the other beyond ist inclusion into the logics of the same opens pathways for a substantial reflection on the many faces of violence that negate the otherness of the other by way of repudiating it, assimilating it, incorporating or, finally, by destroying it. In this context, Levinas’ attempt to found ethics on the pre-normative appeal of the other, gains ist full significance: As will be shown throughout the seminar, we can regard his philosophy as a substantial contribution to contemporary philosophies of difference and as a powerful tool to decipher the actual as well as the implicit violences of everydayness, politics, law and culture..

Assessment and permitted materials

2

Prerequisites for positive grading: Presence and activity; preparation of the texts; oral presentation and submission of a written paper.

Regelmäßige Anwesenheit und aktive Mitarbeit;
Lektüre der Basistexte (je nach Zahl der TeilnehmerInnen evtl. Kurzprotokolle);
Mündliches Referat und schriftliche Seminararbeit

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

The seminar seeks
1. to provide insights into the basic ideals of Levinas’ thought in order to enable an independent reading and application of his ideas;
2. to clarify the central concepts, theses, and arguments of Levinas’ thought;
3. to carve out the significance and to test the limits of his critique of traditional, i.e., normative, teleological, and utilitarian ethics.

Examination topics

Introduction into the topic by the lecturer; presentations of selected chapters by students; collective reading, interpretation , and discussion of substantial passages; final discussion; feedback on the written papers.

Reading list

Levinas, Emmanuel (1987): Totalitaet und Unendlichkeit. Versuch über die Exterioritaet, uebers. v. W.N.Krewani, Freiburg/Muenchen: Alber.

Eine Auswahl weiterfuehrender Literatur wird zu Semesterbeginn bekanntgegeben.


Association in the course directory

BA M 6.2, § 4.1.3, PP 57.3.4

Last modified: Mo 07.09.2020 15:36