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Book Synopsis
In Essential Vulnerabilities, Deborah Achtenberg contests Emmanuel Levinasâs idea that Plato is a philosopher of freedom for whom thought is a return to the self. Instead, Plato, like Levinas, is a philosopher of the other. Nonetheless, Achtenberg argues, Plato and Levinas are different. Though they share the view that human beings are essentially vulnerable and essentially in relation to others, they conceive human vulnerability and responsiveness differently. For Plato, when we see beautiful others, we are overwhelmed by the beauty of what is, by the vision of eternal form. For Levinas, we are disrupted by the newness, foreignness, or singularity of the other. The other, for him, is new or foreign, not eternal. The other is unknowable singularity. By showing these similarities and differences, Achtenberg resituates Plato in relation to Levinas and opens up two contrasting ways that self is essentially in relation to others.

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    A Hardback by Deborah Achtenberg, John Russon

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      View other formats and editions of Essential Vulnerabilities Plato and Levinas on by Deborah Achtenberg

      Publisher: Northwestern University Press
      Publication Date: 6/30/2014 12:00:00 AM
      ISBN13: 9780810129948, 978-0810129948
      ISBN10: 0810129949
      Also in:
      Ancient Greek and Roman philosophy

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      In Essential Vulnerabilities, Deborah Achtenberg contests Emmanuel Levinasâs idea that Plato is a philosopher of freedom for whom thought is a return to the self. Instead, Plato, like Levinas, is a philosopher of the other. Nonetheless, Achtenberg argues, Plato and Levinas are different. Though they share the view that human beings are essentially vulnerable and essentially in relation to others, they conceive human vulnerability and responsiveness differently. For Plato, when we see beautiful others, we are overwhelmed by the beauty of what is, by the vision of eternal form. For Levinas, we are disrupted by the newness, foreignness, or singularity of the other. The other, for him, is new or foreign, not eternal. The other is unknowable singularity. By showing these similarities and differences, Achtenberg resituates Plato in relation to Levinas and opens up two contrasting ways that self is essentially in relation to others.

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