Stern, R. orcid.org/0000-0003-2967-647X (2019) Levinas, Darwall, and Løgstrup on second-personal ethics: Command or responsibility? In: Morgan, M., (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Levinas. Oxford University Press , Oxford , pp. 303-320. ISBN 9780190455934
Abstract
This paper considers the relationship between Levinas’s ethics, and the ‘second-personal’ approach adopted by Stephen Darwall and K. E. Løgstrup. Darwall’s ethics treats the second-personal relation as one of command as an exercise of authority, while K. E. Løgstrup treats the second-personal relation as one of responsibility rather than command. It is argued that Løgstrup raises a fundamental difficulty for any command view, namely that the reason to act on a command is because one has been commanded to do so, where this cannot provide the right reason for a moral action. The paper considers where Levinas should be located in this debate between the two models of second-personal ethics represented by Darwall and Løgstrup. It is suggested that while Levinas’s position reflects elements of both accounts, he is perhaps closer to the command approach, in a way that then makes him vulnerable to Løgstrup’s objections.
Metadata
Item Type: | Book Section |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Editors: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019 Oxford University Press. This is an author-produced version of a paper subsequently published in The Oxford Handbook of Levinas. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Emmanuel Levinas; Stephen Darwall; K. E. Løgstrup; second-personal ethics; ethical responsibility; command accounts of obligation |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Arts and Humanities (Sheffield) > Department of Philosophy (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 07 Aug 2019 09:19 |
Last Modified: | 01 Jan 2020 01:39 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Oxford University Press |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190455934.013.6 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:147822 |