Jeffrey Bloechl (2010). Being Without God. In Bruce Ellis Benson & Norman Wirzba (eds.), Words of Life: New Theological Turns in French Phenomenology. Fordham University Press.
Will St. Paul have been a philosopher no less than an apostle and a believer? The proposal interests Stanislas Breton not so much as an occasion to redefine the relation between faith and reason as perhaps the site of their original emergence, together and at once, from a common source. In the image of Paul—who is Jewish, Greek, and Roman—struck down before the Cross, Breton sees the birth not only of a faith that transcends all particularity but also of a (...) reason that refuses empty universality. (shrink)
The Face of the Other and the Trace of God contain essays on the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas, and how his philosophy intersects with that of other philosophers, particularly Husserl, Kierkegaard, Sartre, and Derrida. This collection is broadly divided into two parts: relations with the other, and the questions of God.
Maclntyre's critique of modern moral theory is supported by a theory of narrative in turn premised on a discontinuous reading of history. Thought through to the end, historical discontinuity redefines objectivity according to the rules of the particular context in which it appears. This claim both founds Maclntyre's intervention in moral debate and troubles that intervention from within. Against his opponents, he claims to have the argument most in accord with the rules of our context; Maclntyre's narra tivity is thus (...) universalistic within the post-Enlightenment context. But contrary to his own tendency and occasional statements, that same com mitment to contextuality deprives him of the possibility of a final, secure position. This tension within Maclntyre's argument better expresses his theory of contextuality than does the specific direction he wishes to take it in: narrativity can be considered to embody an instability essential to not only moral debate but also moral identity. Key Words: Aristotle • . context • Maclntyre • narrative • rationality • relativism • Spinoza • tradition • universalism. (shrink)
