A philosopher in the eye of the storm: monsieur Chouchani and Lévinas's “nameless” essay

This article considers the role of the individual during crises in humanism and the ethical responsibility with which the individual is charged in such times of moral calamity. In a narrow sense, the article explores Emmanuel Lévinas's “Nameless” (“Sans nom”), an essay that appears in his book...

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Bibliographic Details
Subtitles:Research Article
Main Author: Ben-Pazi, Ḥanokh 1964- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: University of Pennsylvania Press [2017]
In: AJS review
Year: 2017, Volume: 41, Issue: 2, Pages: 315-331
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Lévinas, Emmanuel 1906-1995 / World War / Jews / Mankind / Chouchani, Monsieur ca. 1904?-1968
IxTheo Classification:BH Judaism
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Summary:This article considers the role of the individual during crises in humanism and the ethical responsibility with which the individual is charged in such times of moral calamity. In a narrow sense, the article explores Emmanuel Lévinas's “Nameless” (“Sans nom”), an essay that appears in his book Proper Names, and proposes viewing it as his personal reading in honor of his unique, unaccounted-for teacher Monsieur Chouchani. From a broader philosophical perspective, the article attempts to consider the meaning of ethics and the assumption of responsibility in times when doing so appears to offer no benefit and hold no significance whatsoever. From an educational perspective, it endeavors to better understand the ethical role of the teacher in both tranquil and tempestuous times. And finally, it also offers another profound observation of what Lévinas's article refers to as the “Jewish condition,” not in a national historical sense but as a model of crisis-oriented ethical challenge.
ISSN:1475-4541
Contains:Enthalten in: Association for Jewish Studies, AJS review
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1017/S036400941700040X