Emmanuel Levinas and the Politics of Non-Violence : Levinas on Politics and (Non- ) Violence

Annotation French philosopher and Talmudic commentator Emmanuel Levinas (1906-1995) has received considerable attention for his influence on philosophical and religious thought. In this book, Victoria Tahmasebi-Birgani provides the first examination of the applicability of Emmanuel Levinas' work to social and political movements. Investigating his ethics of responsibility and his critique of the Western liberal imagination, Tahmasebi-Birgani advances the moral, political, and philosophical debates on the radical implications of Levinas' work. Emmanuel Levinas and the Politics of Non-Violence is the first book to closely consider the affinity between Levinas' ethical vision and Mohandas Gandhi's radical yet non-violent political struggle. Situating Levinas' insights within a transnational, transcontinental, and global framework, Tahmasebi-Birgani highlights Levinas' continued relevance in an age in which violence is so often resorted to in the name of "justice" and "freedom." Emmanuel Levinas and the Politics of Non-Violence 4 Contents 8 Acknowledgments 10 List of Abbreviations 12 Introduction 16 Ethical Subject and Political Praxis: A Theoretical Background 18 1 Levinas’ Ethicopolitics: Beyond the Western Liberal Tradition 27 (i) Levinas and the Political: General Discussion 27 (ii) An Alternative Reading of Ethics and Politics in Levinas 37 (iii) The Problem of the Third and Justice in Levinas 40 The Third and Justice: Two Conceptions of Justice in Levinas 44 Me, the Other, the Third, and (In)Justice: Ethical Justice and Liberatory Political Praxis 48 (iv) Levinas and Liberalism 54 Levinas and the Liberal Conception of the Individual 55 Levinas and the Liberal Peace 56 Levinas and the Liberal Economic Arrangement 61 Conclusion 64 2 Radical Passivity, the Face, and the Social Demand for Justice 66 (i) Oneself: Subject as Radical Passivity of the Sensible 67 Maternity as a Praxis Grounded in Radical Passivity 76 (ii) The Irreducible Other: The Face as a Social Demand for Justice 80 (iii) Self and the Other 85 Peace with the Other as Being Responsible for the Other’s Suffering and Death 88 Conclusion 92 3 Substituting Praxis and Political Liberation 94 (i) Substitution in Radical Passivity 94 (ii) Substituting Praxis as a Liberatory Struggle 96 (iii) The Contours of Substituting Praxis 105 Substituting Praxis: Liberation in Pre-Intentional Proximity 105 Substituting Praxis: Liberation and Freedom 107 Substituting Praxis: Liberation and the Spirit of Sincerity and Youth 111 Substituting Praxis: Liberation and Non-Violence – The Third as Persecutor 118 Conclusion 125 4 Levinas and Gandhi: Liberatory Praxis as Fear for the Other 128 (i) Levinas and Gandhi: Can There Be a Dialogue? 128 (ii) Parallels between Levinas and Gandhi 130 Subject in Levinas and Gandhi 130 Gandhian Selfless Service and Levinasian Irreplaceable Responsibility 133 (iii) Entry into Non-Violence through Eschatology 136 (iv) Gandhi: Non-Violent Revolt and Eschatological Peace 139 (v) Levinas: The Event of Speech and Eschatological Peace 144 Ethical Love as the Principle of the Social and the Political 145 Political Opponent as Interlocutor 149 (vi) Gandhi: Political Enemy as Interlocutor: Peaceful Struggle as Speech 151 (vii) Liberation as Substitution: Fearing for the Other Instead of Fearing from the Other 156 Conclusion 164 Conclusion 170 Notes 176 Introduction 176 1. Levinas’ Ethicopolitics 177 2. Radical Passivity, the Face, and the Social Demand for Justice 182 3. Substituting Praxis and Political Liberation 184 4. Levinas and Gandhi 186 Conclusion 191 Bibliography 192 Index 200