Against EthicsA brilliant and witty postmodern critique of ethics, framed as a contemporary restaging of Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling. John D. Caputo undertakes a passionate, poetic, and satiric search for the basis of an ethics in the postmodern situation. Restaging Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling, Caputo defends the notion of obligation without ethics, of responsibility without the support of ethical foundations. Retelling the story of Abraham and Isaac, he strikes the pose of a postmodern-day Johannes de Silentio, accompanied by communications from such startling figures as Johanna de Silentio, Felix Sineculpa, and Magdalena de la Cruz. In dialogue with the thought of Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Derrida, and Lyotard, Caputo forges a challenging, original account of what is possible and what is not possible for a continentalist ethics today. “Against Ethics is a bold work. . . . A counterethics whose multiple voices will be heard long after the trivializing arguments of many analytic ethicists have vanished and the arcane formulations of many postmoderns have been jettisoned.” —Edith Wyschogrod “Caputo provides a brilliant new analysis of the limits of ethics. . . . Essential reading for anyone concerned with the philosophical issues raised in postmodernity.” —Drucilla Cornell “One of the most important works on philosophical ethics written in recent years. . . . Caputo speaks with a passion and concern that are rare in academic philosophy.” —Mark C. Taylor “Against Ethics is beautifully written, clever, learned, thought-provoking, and even inspiring.” —Theological Studies “Writing in the form of his ideas, Caputo offers the reader a truly exquisite reading experience. . . . His iconic style mirrors a truly refreshing honesty that draws the reader in to play.” —Quarterly Journal of Speech |
Contents
| 1 | |
Two Between Good and Evil | 20 |
Three Dionysus vs the Rabbi | 42 |
Four In the Names of Justice | 69 |
Five The Epoch of Judgment | 93 |
Six Almost Perfect Fools | 123 |
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Abraham absolute abyss affirmation agent body anarchy Antigone arche argumentum ad misericordiam Auschwitz beautiful begin Being's Caputo child comes Creon deconstruction Deleuze Derrida différance difference Differend disaster discourse everything Evil factical faith father Fear and Trembling feeling flesh forces gibt give Glas Greco-German Greek Hegel Heidegger Heidegger's Heideggerian Hermeneutics heteromorphic heteronomic hyperbolic idea idiom impossible infinite infinity Isaac Jacques Derrida jewgreek Jews Johannes de Silentio judge judgment justice Kant keep Kierkegaard kind Levinas Levinas's Lyotard Magdalena matter means metaphysics never Nietzsche Nietzsche's Obligation happens one's originary ethics pain paradigm Paul Celan phenomenology philosophy phronesis play poem poet poetics of obligation poetry possible postmodern principle proper names pure rabbi radical scandal sense singular someone speak Spirit star story suffering temple thing thought tion trans transcendental truth turn University Press victims violence whole write Yeshua