The Vocation of Responsibility: From Fichte to Levinas - Softcover

Inhaltsangabe

During the European Protestant Reformation, one?s ?calling? to serve humanity became connected to the accumulation of material rewards. This notion was not new, as it originated in the Old and New Testaments. This study traces this ethic by examining explicit and implied references to ?vocation? in the primary texts of five major continental philosophers. Fichte?s ascetic concept required unity with a total and holistic transcendental power. When Kierkegaard reconsidered this idealistic notion, he lamented the disappearance of the single individual. His notion of vocation is explicitly religious and incorporates a concept of ?conversion? that emphasizes a response to the suffering of others. Nietzsche?s ethical concept of responsibility is directly related to his original notions of truth and persona as a multiplicity of forces. For Nietzsche, being ?called? to serve others requires freedom from resentment and learning to love complacently. These ethical concepts show up in Lévinas? and Derrida?s postmodern ethics. Lévinas? emphasis on ?the other? and Derrida?s examination of ?pure giving? displays how the ancient and modern concept of ?vocation? is articulated in original ways.

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