What is it about?
Vaclav Havel, while in prison read an essay by Emmanuel Levinas which had a deep impact on Havel's thinking about humanism. Many people argue that heidegger is the biggest philosophical influence on Havel, however this paper shows just how formative Havel's reading of Levinas was and just how important humanism is for understanding Havel's thought.
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Why is it important?
Much contemporary philosophy and cultural theory is founded upon anti-humanist thinking. This paper makes the case that humanist ideas flourished in Czechoslovakian dissident circles and that there is a link from these circles to the thought of Emmanuel Levinas.
Perspectives
This paper is the culmination of years of research on Havel's thought. I have for a long time thouht about the link from Havel to Levinas but this paper is my first attempt to give Havel's reading of Levinas some real significance for humanist thought.
Dr Daniel Brennan
Bond University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Vaclav Havel’s Levinas: Timely remarks on humanism, Ethics & Bioethics, January 2016, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1515/ebce-2016-0012.
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