The Ethics of Visuality

Levinas and the Contemporary Gaze

Nonfiction, Art & Architecture, General Art, Art History, Conceptual
Cover of the book The Ethics of Visuality by Hagi Kenaan, Bloomsbury Publishing
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Hagi Kenaan ISBN: 9780857733337
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Publication: May 30, 2013
Imprint: I.B. Tauris Language: English
Author: Hagi Kenaan
ISBN: 9780857733337
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication: May 30, 2013
Imprint: I.B. Tauris
Language: English

Our world is saturated with images. Images multiply around us, having reached the status of essentially reproducible commodities. Overwhelmed by this proliferation of visual stimuli, our gaze becomes increasingly bored and distracted. Do we ever really read and engage with images? Can they ever provide the sense of meaningfulness we crave?

French Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas confronted and subverted these questions. A superficial reading of his works might indicate an ambivalence if not an out-and-out hostility towards the world of images; he objected to the medium's finite, flat character and, more precisely, to its incapacity to convey meaning at all. Yet an enigmatic statement: “Ethics are optics” recurred throughout his work. Hagi Kenaan takes this mysterious idea as the starting point for a strikingly original philosophical argument on the place of visuality in Levinas's ethics. The Ethics of Visuality looks at the key concepts of Levinas's work and articulates his vision of 'Otherness' together with the visual tropes of the Human Face as symbolic of alterity and transcendence.

Where other critical approaches have largely undermined Levinas's ambivalence towards the visual, The Ethics of Visuality uncovers the relevance of Levinas's bias against the visual, and makes place for a philosophy of the importance of the human face to ethical living the contemporary world.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Our world is saturated with images. Images multiply around us, having reached the status of essentially reproducible commodities. Overwhelmed by this proliferation of visual stimuli, our gaze becomes increasingly bored and distracted. Do we ever really read and engage with images? Can they ever provide the sense of meaningfulness we crave?

French Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas confronted and subverted these questions. A superficial reading of his works might indicate an ambivalence if not an out-and-out hostility towards the world of images; he objected to the medium's finite, flat character and, more precisely, to its incapacity to convey meaning at all. Yet an enigmatic statement: “Ethics are optics” recurred throughout his work. Hagi Kenaan takes this mysterious idea as the starting point for a strikingly original philosophical argument on the place of visuality in Levinas's ethics. The Ethics of Visuality looks at the key concepts of Levinas's work and articulates his vision of 'Otherness' together with the visual tropes of the Human Face as symbolic of alterity and transcendence.

Where other critical approaches have largely undermined Levinas's ambivalence towards the visual, The Ethics of Visuality uncovers the relevance of Levinas's bias against the visual, and makes place for a philosophy of the importance of the human face to ethical living the contemporary world.

More books from Bloomsbury Publishing

Cover of the book Birds of Thailand by Hagi Kenaan
Cover of the book King John by Hagi Kenaan
Cover of the book Little Nelson by Hagi Kenaan
Cover of the book International Law by Hagi Kenaan
Cover of the book Julius Caesar and Me by Hagi Kenaan
Cover of the book Geographers by Hagi Kenaan
Cover of the book The Right to Work by Hagi Kenaan
Cover of the book Shining Agnes by Hagi Kenaan
Cover of the book Children's Writers' & Artists' Yearbook 2019 by Hagi Kenaan
Cover of the book Sex and Stravinsky by Hagi Kenaan
Cover of the book The Wisdom of Uncle Kasimir by Hagi Kenaan
Cover of the book Tora! Tora! Tora! by Hagi Kenaan
Cover of the book The International Relations of Sub-Saharan Africa by Hagi Kenaan
Cover of the book The Aesthetic Turn in Political Thought by Hagi Kenaan
Cover of the book Data Protection and Privacy by Hagi Kenaan
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy