Rethinking the Conditions for Inter-cultural Interaction: A Commentary on Levinas' Humanism of the Other

文化之間互動條件的再思考：評列維納斯《他者的人文主義》

10.6163/tjeas.2010.7(2)113

Ernst Wolff

列維納斯 ； 文化互動 ； 自我 ； 他者 ； 他者的人文主義 ； 人文主義 ； 反人文主義 ； 文化 ； 認同 ； Emmanuel Levinas ； intercultural interaction ； self ； other ； Humanism of the other ； humanism ； anti-humanism ； culture ； identity

臺灣東亞文明研究學刊

7卷2期（2010 / 12 / 01）

113 - 147

英文

雖然「人文主義」並非列維納斯哲學中的重要語詞之一，列維納斯將其論文集的其中一本命名為《他者的人文主義》並不令人驚訝。本文檢視列維納斯於該書中所提供的人文主義觀點及其所涉及的「自我」與「他者」概念。第一部分將該書置於列維納斯哲學早期發展的脈絡中。列維納斯將自我與他者之間的張力回歸於對意義存在論的質疑。第二部分闡釋列維納斯對超越文化的倫理的辯護。在這方面，他展現出對當代反人文主義的全然認可。列維納斯的人文主義對於將倫理行為的起源置於自發性的自我之中保持高度懷疑，而將之歸於高度的文化相對性，就此而言列維納斯的人文主義可被視為反人文主義。但是他將他人置於對意義與行動的所有反思的最中心點，在這層意義上，他是一位人文主義者。結論部分則討論列維納斯有關文化特質的論述，並在他所強調的跨文化的倫理性的視野中加以解釋。

Although ”humanism” is not one of the important terms in Levinas' philosophy, it hardly surprised that he entitled one of his collections of essays Humanism of the other human being. In this paper, I shall examine the perspective on humanism offered by Levinas in this book, as well as the perspective on the ”self” and the ”other” that it entails. In the first section this book will be set in the context of the early development of Levinas' philosophy. He refers the tension between the self and the other back to a questioning of the ontology of meaning. In the second section, Levinas' defense of a trans-cultural ethicity will be expounded. This he developed in full recognition of contemporary anti-humanism. Levinas' humanism could be considered as anti-humanist in as far as it remains highly suspicious of situating the origin of ethical conduct in the autonomous self, and ascribes to a high degree of cultural relativism; but he is humanist in the sense that he places the other human being at the very center of all reflection on meaning and action. In conclusion, the cultural specifics of Levinas' own argument are considered and interpreted in the light of the trans-cultural notion of ethicity that he defends.

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