Levinas. Over verantwoordelijkheid & christendom

This thesis is about Emmanuel Levinas, in particular about the absolute responsibility for the Other and the compatibility of Levinas’ philosophy of the Other with Christianity. The focus of the thesis are a number of essays from the book Menselijk Gelaat. The thesis is divided in two parts. The first part examines what this absolute responsibility means and what the consequences of this responsibility are for individual and society. In this part a comparison is made with the thoughts of Plato, Hobbes and Rousseau on society. It also examines if Levinas’ philosophy could be a social/political philosophy. The second part examines the compatibility of Levinas’ philosophy of the Other with Christianity. On the one hand Levinas is quite critical about Christianity and his philosophy clearly has Jewish roots. On the other hand the Bible, in particular the New Testament, teaches us to take care of the other.