The face of the neighbor: Ethics in Kierkegaard and Lévinas
Abstract
In this project, I contend that Søren Kierkegaard and Emmanuel Lévinas perform conversant—if not complementary—existential and phenomenological analyses of the ethical relation between the human self and the Other, the neighbor. The focus of the project is a critical comparison between the ethical philosophies of Kierkegaard and Lévinas, and I suggest that, against potentially misleading first impressions, their thoughts are quite compatible in a number of ways, and in this way they are mutually illuminating in philosophically describing and understanding the (inter-) human condition. While Kierkegaard and Lévinas would have identified their specific religious orientations (nineteenth century Christianity and twentieth century Judaism, respectively) as significant points of departure and philosophical divergence, I place them in dialogue to reconsider the convergence of ethical and social-political horizons between human subjectivity and intersubjectivity.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Matustik, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Philosophy of religion|Philosophy|Judaic studies
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