Levinas's Politics: Justice, Mercy, Universality (Haney Foundation Series)

193 Pages·2020·1.186 MB·English

by  Annabel Herzog

Levinas’s Politics

LEVINAS’S POLITICS
JUSTICE, MERCY, UNIVERSALITY
Annabel Herzog
university of pennsylvania press
philadelphia
Haney Foundation Series
A volume in the Haney Foundation Series, established in 1961
with the generous support of Dr. John Louis Haney
Copyright © 2020 University of Pennsylvania Press
All rights reserved.
Except for brief quotations used for purposes of review or scholarly citation,
none of this book may be reproduced in any form by any means
without written permission from the publisher.
Published by
University of Pennsylvania Press
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4112
www.upenn.edu/pennpress
Printed in the United States of America
on acid- free paper
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Herzog, Annabel, author.
Title: Levinas’s politics : justice, mercy, universality / Annabel Herzog.
Other titles: Haney Foundation series.
Description: 1st edition. | Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2020] | Series: Haney
Foundation series | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019031232 | ISBN 9780812251975 (hardcover)
Subjects: LCSH: Lévinas, Emmanuel—Political and social views. | Lévinas, Emmanuel—Ethics.
| Talmud—Political aspects. | Political ethics—Philosophy. | Jewish ethics.
Classification: LCC B2430.L484 H47 2020 | DDC 320.092—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019031232
For my children

Mon rapport au Talmud est donc un rapport européen, vous
comprenez, c’est très important.
And so, my relationship to the Talmud remains very
European; please understand, it is very important.
—E. Levinas
ח:ו ,הכימ ךָיהֶֹלאֱ םעִ תכֶלֶ עַנֵצְהַוְ דסֶחֶ תבַהֲאַוְ טפָּשְׁמִ תוֹשׂעֲ םאִ יכִּ
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with
your God. (Micah 6:8)

CONTENTS
List of Abbreviations xi
Note on Translations xv
Introduction 1
Chapter 1. The Talmudic Readings: From Literature to Politics 14
Chapter 2. Levinas’s Conception of Politics in the Talmudic Readings 30
Chapter 3. Levinas’s Critique of Social “Indifference” 45
Chapter 4. On the Necessity of Political Violence 55
Chapter 5. Evil as Injustice 64
Chapter 6. On Nature 80
Chapter 7. Levinas and the Modern State of Israel 95
Chapter 8. Hegelian Dialectics and the Question of Messianism 108
Conclusion. Levinas’s Concept of Laïcité 126
Notes 137
Bibliography 157
Index 169
Acknowledgments 173