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Literature and Theology 2003 17(4):407-421; doi:10.1093/litthe/17.4.407
© 2003 by Oxford University Press
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Lévinas, Disinterest and Enthusiasm

Sean Gaston

Wolvercote, Oxford OX2 8PE elan-gaston@carsean.demon.co.uk

Lévinas revives the tradition of disinterest and redefines the classical search for a disinterested subject as a radical dis-interest of the subject by and for the other. He both redefines and reinhabits the traditional grounds of disinterest. While he rejects the sympathetic imagination as a synthesis, he retains the link between disinterest and rationality. He repeats the classical opposition between disinterest and enthusiasm and, at the same time, gestures to a rational enthusiasm or inspiration. Lévinas's remarkable reworking of disinterest relies ultimately both on an idea of God and an ethical, rational and inspired Judaism. It is a dis-interest without good conscience: a harsh transcedence, an infinite responsibility without rest.

ma responsabilité—malgré moi1


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