| Essential Vulnerabilities: Plato and Levinas on Relations to the Other Contributor(s): Achtenberg, Deborah (Author) |
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ISBN: 0810135639 ISBN-13: 9780810135635 Publisher: Northwestern University Press OUR PRICE: $34.60 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: October 2017 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Philosophy | Ethics & Moral Philosophy - Philosophy | History & Surveys - Ancient & Classical |
| Dewey: 184 |
| Series: Rereading Ancient Philosophy |
| Physical Information: 0.8" H x 5.9" W x 8.9" (0.75 lbs) 224 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - Ancient (To 499 A.D.) |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: In Essential Vulnerabilities, Deborah Achtenberg contests Emmanuel Levinas's idea that Plato is a philosopher of freedom for whom thought is a return to the self. To the contrary, she agrees, Plato, like Levinas, is a philosopher of the other. While they share the view that human beings are essentially vulnerable and in relation to others, they conceive human vulnerability and responsiveness differently. For Plato, when ones see beauty in others, one is overwhelmed by the beauty of what is, by the vision of eternal form. For Levinas, on the other hand, we are disrupted by the newness, foreignness, or singularity of the other. For him, the other is not eternal, but new or foreign. The other is an unknowable singularity. By bringing into focus these similarities and differences, Achtenberg resituates Plato in relation to Levinas and opens up two contrasting ways that self is essentially in relation to others. |