Levinas and Camus humanism for the twenty-first century Tal Sessler.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sessler, Tal, author.

Series:

Continuum studies in Continental philosophy.

Continuum studies in Continental philosophy

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Lévinas, Emmanuel.

Camus, Albert, 1913-1960.

Camus, Albert.

Humanism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (125 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

London New York Continuum 2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This important new book compares the respective oeuvre of two seminal thinkers of the 20th century, Emmanuel Levinas and Albert Camus. Tal Sessler compares their lasting legacies within the specific context of intellectual resistance to totalitarianism and political violence, with particular focus on their respective approaches to the Holocaust and genocide in the 20th century and, correspondingly, the question of theodicy and religious faith. Levinas and Camus explores each thinker's congruent and complimentary metaphysical and political rationale in opposing tyranny. Sessler emphasises the religious component in Levinas's depiction of Hitlerism as paganism (a perception that Camus shares), and the correlation between liberalism and monotheism. The book explores Levinas and Camus's reflections on the Holocaust and the question of theodicy and deals with their corresponding critiques of Stalinism and Hegelian philosophy of history. Sessler goes on to consider how Levinas and Camus would have contended with the central political issue of our own era, religious fundamentalism, and explicates the dualist nature of Israel and Algeria in the writings of Levinas and Camus.

Contents:

Introduction

1. Biographical Sketches

2. Levinas and Camus Contra Hitlerism and 'Political Nietzscheianism'

3. Critique of Soviet Marxism and Hegelian Philosophy of History

4. Religious Humanism and Middle-Eastern Geo-Politics

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 72-111) and index

ISBN:

9786612452253

9781472547002

1472547004

9781282452251

1282452258

9781441195739

1441195734

OCLC:

608169060