Levinas in Japan: the ethics of alterity and the philosophy of no-self

Continental Philosophy Review 43 (2):193-206 (2010)
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Abstract

Does the Buddhist doctrine of no-self imply, simply put, no-other? Does this doctrine necessarily come into conflict with an ethics premised on the alterity of the other? This article explores these questions by situating Emmanuel Levinas’s ethics in the context of contemporary Japanese philosophy. The work of twentieth-century Japanese philosopher Watsuji Tetsurō provides a starting point from which to consider the ethics of the self-other relation in light of the Buddhist notion of emptiness. The philosophy of thirteenth-century Zen Master Dōgen casts doubt on Watsuji’s commitment to reciprocal self-other relationality, showing that the idea of self-emptiness disrupts any conventional understanding of reciprocity and promotes instead other-oriented compassion. Despite interesting similarities between the ethics of alterity and Buddhist compassion, a Buddhist-influenced understanding of alterity differs from Levinas on important points, by making possible the claim that all others—human, animal, plant, and mineral—are ethical others

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Author's Profile

Leah Kalmanson
University of North Texas

References found in this work

Totality and infinity.Emmanuel Levinas - 1961/1969 - Pittsburgh,: Duquesne University Press.
Moon in a Dewdrop: Writings of Zen Master Dogen.Kazuaki Tanahashi - 1987 - Philosophy East and West 37 (3):331-332.
Facing Nature: Levinas Beyond the Human.Christian Diehm - 2000 - Philosophy Today 44 (1):51-59.

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