Political Responsibility For A Globalised World: After Levinas’ Humanism

287 Pages·2011·1.538 MB·English

by  Ernst Wolff

Ernst Wolff
Political Responsibility for a Globalised World

Volume 11
Editorial
Globalizationdemandsforsettingupnewculturalorientations.Dif-
ferenttraditionsandformsoflifestruggleforrecognitionthroughout
the world and have to meet the necessity of values and norms with
universal validity. Similarities and differences in understanding the
world have to be analyzed and recognized which requires a new re-
flection on what it means to be a human being concerning its an-
thropological universality, but also its diverseness and changeability.
ThebooksoftheseriesBeingHuman:CaughtintheWebofCul-
tures – Humanism in the Age of Globalization are committed to a
newHumanism,whichnotonlyhighlightshumanenessinitscultu-
ralandhistoricalvarietiesbutalsopresentsitasatransculturallyva-
lid principle of human interaction in all cultural life-forms.
The series is edited by
Jörn Rüsen (Essen), Chun-chieh Huang (Taipei), Oliver Kozlarek
(MexicoCity)andJürgenStraub(Bochum),AssistantEditor:Henner
Laass (Essen).
Advisory board:
PeterBurke(Cambridge),ChenQineng(Beijing),GeorgEssen(Nij-
megen),Ming-hueiLee(Taipei),SurendraMunshi(Calcutta),Erhard
Reckwitz (Essen), Masayuki Sato (Yamanashi), Helwig Schmidt-
Glintzer (Wolfenbüttel), Zhang Longxi (Hong Kong)

Ernst Wolff (Prof.) teaches philosophy at the University of Pretoria
(South Africa) and is fellow of the Kulturwissenschaftliches Institut
in Essen (Germany). His research covers hermeneutics, social and
political philosophy and the philosophy of technology.
Ernst Wolff
Political Responsibility for
a Globalised World
After Levinas’ Humanism
In Cooperation with the InstituteforAdvanced Studyinthe Humanities,
Essen,theInstituteforAdvancedStudiesinHumanitiesandSocialScienc-
es,NationalTaiwanUniversity,theFacultyofHumanitiesoftheUniversity
Duisburg/Essen.
Humanism in the Era of Globalization –
An Intercultural Dialogue on Humanity, Culture, and Value
sponsored by Stiftung Mercator
An electronic version of this book is freely available, thanks to the support
of libraries working with Knowledge Unlatched. KU is a collaborative ini-
tiative designed to make high quality books Open Access for the public
good.

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Table of contents
Preface | 11
INTRODUCTION
Chapter 1
Doing justice to responsibility:
The primordial political nature
of Levinas’ philosophy | 17
1 Orientation: Levinas as political philosopher | 17
2 “There are always at least three…”:
Urgency and primacy of the political relation | 19
2.1 The constitution of political meaning | 21
2.2 Politics: the indispensable translation of the Saying to the Said | 23
3 Clarifications on the title | 28
PART 1
ETHICS AFTER THE COLONIES:
THE GLOBAL SCOPE
OF LEVINAS’ POLITICAL THOUGHT | 33
Chapter 2
Ethnography, atheism, decolonisation | 35
1 Lucien Lévy-Bruhl, or the use of ethnography
for ontology and politics | 36
1.1 “To be is to participate” | 36
1.2 Heidegger, nostalgia, cruelty and the eclipse of monotheism | 42
1.3 Ethnography, ontology and socio-political criticism | 45
2 Claude Lévi-Strauss, decolonisation and indifference | 50
3 Conclusion: the politics of Levinas’ philosophy of alterity | 55
Chapter 3
The range of the political:
Decolonisation as a case in point | 59
1 From situated thought to global consequences | 59
2 Decolonisation, colonisation: figures of the global | 61
3 For a globalised world | 68
PART 2
LEVINAS’ POST-ANTI-HUMANIST HUMANISM
AND AFTER | 77
Chapter 4
Humanism and anti-humanism
in Levinas’ reflection on Jewish education | 83
1 “For a Hebraic humanism” | 84
2 “Anti-humanism and education” | 93
3 Universalism and authority: an uncertain conclusion | 100
4 Changing of the guards: Talmudic humanism
and a philosophical post-anti-humanist humanism | 102
Chapter 5
Levinas’ post-anti-humanist humanism:
Humanism of the other | 105
1 First attempts at a political and ontological formulation
of the problem | 107
2 The crisis of humanism | 114
2.1 End of the subject | 116
2.2 Questioning the rationality of the animal rationale | 117
2.3 Cultural relativity or the death of God | 118
3 Humanism and ethicity | 121
4 “Ethical culture” and the “cultural and aesthetic notion
of meaning” | 127
5 “Real humanism”: an un-likely family portrait | 134
5.1 Sartre: humanism as existentialism | 136
5.2 Heidegger: “humanism” in the extreme sense | 138
5.3 Althusser: humanism as ideology | 142
Chapter 6
After Levinas:
The risk of irresponsible responsibility | 147
1 Universalism and particularism: Marion and Bernasconi | 147
2 Responsibility and irresponsibility | 151
2.1 Can a Levinasian kill? From the original contradiction
to the participation of practice in the meaning of the ethical | 152
2.2 Infinite responsibility and the polysemy of transgression | 157
2.3 Mediation: the irreducible political condition
of responsibility | 162
3 After Levinas | 166
PART 3
POLITICAL RESPONSIBILITY
FOR A GLOBALISED WORLD | 175
Chapter 7
Levinas and Max Weber
on being called for politics | 179
1 An inhospitable world: disenchantment and polytheism
in Weber and Levinas | 179
2 Levinas: a Gesinnungsethiker or a Verantwortungsethiker? | 183
2.1 The prima facie case for Levinas as “ethicist of principle” | 184
2.2 Levinas as political “ethicist of responsibility” | 189
2.3 Responsibility elevated to principle
or principle elevated to responsibility? | 200
Chapter 8
Towards a post-Levinasian understanding
of responsibility:
the Weberian contribution of Apel | 205
1 Justification: Apel and the unavoidability of responsibility | 205
2 From a Weberian Apel to a Weberian Levinas | 209
3 Four objectives for a theory of political responsibility | 213
Chapter 9
Ricoeur’s contribution to a notion
of political responsibility for a globalised world | 221
1 Ricoeur’s political paradox and appropriation of Weber | 222
2 From the political paradox to its integration
in the “Little ethics” | 234
3 Political action between capacities and conflict | 237
4 Responsibility, prudence, collaboration, equity | 244
4.1 Remarks on the resources: Levinas and Ricoeur | 245
4.2 Ambiguity concerning Ricoeur’s use
of the notion of responsibility | 248
4.3 Towards a political responsibility for a globalised world | 253
CONCLUSION
FOR A “GOOD ENOUGH” JUSTICE | 267
Bibliography | 273
1 Abbreviations | 273
2 General Bibliography | 277