Ethics, Responsibilityand Rationality: Reading Levinas

Facilitator: Giuliana Ferri Five sessions Spring: 6.00-7.30 Wednesday 6 February 27 February 2013 Emmanuel Levinas is best known as the philosopher of otherness. His philosophical reflection on the notions of the face and of the other is considered one of the most important and thought provoking contributions to ethical thinking in contemporary philosophy. Levinas rejects the Enlightenment ideal of the subject as an autonomous rational being, but sees subjectivity as constituted in the ethical relation with the other. In this framework, learning is not the acquisition of knowledge or the pursuit of truth, but becoming responsive to the face of the other. This open-ended and unpredictable relation between human beings has important implications in pedagogy, particularly in reference to the emergence of subjectivity in pedagogical relations, inviting a rethinking of teaching viewed as transmission of knowledge. The reading sessions will focus on ethical responsibility and relationality. There will be four sessions, focusing on the reading of Ethics and Infinity (1985) and Totality and Infinity (2008). Session 1- Due to Levinas' challenging writing style I propose to begin with two short chapters from Ethics and Infinity where he explains the notions of relationality and responsibility for the Other employed in Totality and Infinity Session 2- Chapter 1, Totality and Infinity Session 3- Chapter 2, Totality and Infinity Session 4- Section III, Ethics and the Face, Totality and Infinity Reading list: Levinas, Emmanuel. Totality and Infinity, 2008, Duquesne University Press Levinas, Emmanuel. Ethics and Infinity, 1985, Duquesne University Press