Subjek en etiese verantwoordelikheidsbesef : twee artikels oor die denke van Emmanuel Levinas

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:Article I:Subject and the realisation of ethical responsibility.The Idea of the Infinite in Levinas' Totality and Infinity.In Totality and Infinity Emmanuel Levinas writes about the categorical character of theethical responsibility that the subject owes to the other. The confrontation with thesuffering other puts the subject's natural self interest into question, and brings him torealise an ethical responsibility of which he cannot unburden himself. The question arisesas to what in the constitution of the subject makes him susceptible to the realisation ofethical responsibility. This article illustrates that in order to accentuate ethicalresponsibility as strongly as he does, Levinas needs to take a quasi-metaphysical step. Thetrace of the infinite that creation has left on the finite subject, predisposes the subjectto the appeal of the other. Levinas' use of words such as God, the Good, creationand the Idea of Infinity does not have a theological or a mystical underpinning. Thesemetaphysical concepts are philosophical figures of speech that Levinas borrows fromPlato and Descartes.Article II:Levinas and the question of socio-ethical responsibility in South Africa.The philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas contains far-reaching consequences for socialethics. This article gives an account of its significance for the South African situation. Thelines that are taken up with regard to the question of guilt for the injustice in the SouthAfrican social reality, are of two kinds. Either one is held guilty because of committing agross human rights violation, or one is held guilty because of profiting from the apartheidsystem at the cost of others. Both these approaches depart from a concern with thehistorical processes that brought the injustices about. Levinas, however, offers analternative approach. While he will more or less go along with the previous twoapproaches, he points to an ethical imperative with which the actual social realityconfronts us. One can be held responsible, simply because one has always already donetoo little for those who are destitute. The ethical subject's pre-original openness to theappeal of others, makes him susceptible to the realisation of ethical responsibility. This isexplained in a concise exegesis of Levinas' s work. The article concludes by consideringthe question of whether philosophers ought to give an account of the good social order,and whether they ought to tell us how it is to be reached.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University