How much does ethics demand from us? On what authority does it demand it? How do those demands relate to requirements of prudence, law, and social convention? Is ethics even a matter of demands, or instead of love? These are fundamental questions to which K. E. Løgstrup and Emmanuel Levinas seem to give broadly similar answers centering on our encounter with vulnerable others. However, while Levinas is widely recognized as a leading thinker, the Danish philosopher Løgstrup has been largely ignored until recently, although some important thinkers are beginning to pay attention to his work and Oxford University Press is publishing translations of four of his texts, adding to the material that is available in English. This edition of The Monist will take this reception further by setting Løgstrup’s account in dialogue with Levinas on these central issues in ethics. The editors welcome papers which consider the extent of their differences and common ground. This collection will also test their approaches against criticisms to see whether insights from one thinker could be used to defend the other. It will be the first time the two philosophers have been juxtaposed in any depth. Doing so promises to not only deepen our understanding of Levinas but also show how it can be fruitful to take Løgstrup’s position into account, thereby introducing a new figure into contemporary debates on the nature of our ethical relation to others.
Deadline for submissions: January 31, 2019
Guest editors: Irene McMullin (Essex) and Robert Stern (Sheffield)