Ethics, Exegesis and Philosophy

Emmanuel Levinas (1906-96) is now widely regarded as a major European moral philosopher profoundly shaped by his Jewish background. A pupil of Husserl and Heidegger, Levinas pioneered new forms of Biblical interpretation. Richard A. Cohen's book expands on Levinas' work to explore broader questions of interpretation in ethical thinking. Levinas' views of philosophy are considered in critical contrast to alternative contemporary approaches, such as those found in modern science, psychology, Nietzsche, Freud, Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre and Derrida. Cohen explores a manner of philosophizing that he terms "ethical exegesis."