A Moral Philosophy That Will Change Your Life: On Emmanuel Levinas's Totality and Infinity

A Moral Philosophy That Will Change Your Life: On Emmanuel Levinas's Totality and Infinity

Audio recording of a lecture given by tutor Claudia Hauer on January 30, 2026 as part of the Dean’s Lecture & Concert Series. The Dean’s Office has provided this description of the event: “Emmanuel Levinas is a moral philosopher of the highest order. A student of Martin Heidegger’s, Levinas absorbed the tools of the phenomenological method, yet was repulsed by his teacher’s (at best) moral neutrality and (at worst) moral depravity. Levinas puts his fluid method to work in the volume Totality and Infinity in order to distinguish between Totalities (which include political regimes) that can ideally administer a lukewarm morality in the form of justice and human rights, and Infinities, which give expression to the infinite individuality of each human being. Levinas grounds his ethics in his Talmudic conviction that morality originates in our duties to the poor, the widow and the orphan. His secular ethics in Totality and Infinity focuses on looking into the eyes of the stranger, the Other, and opening ourselves to an individual with a unique story to tell. Levinas cautions us against putting strangers into broad totalizing categories, such as the ‘abject poor and homeless,’ or the ‘suit-clad professional.’ Levinas reminds us that human moral sentiment originates in our ability to be surprised, moved, and touched by the infinity of the Other. Our St. John’s College community reflects Levinasian ethics in our willingness to meet one another in and out of the classroom, and engage in the play of free discourse with open-minded curiosity. In this talk, I will endeavor to outline the basics of Levinas’s ethics.”

Santa Fe, NM

2026-01-30

Meem Library has been given permission to make this item available online.

sound

mp3

English

SF_HauerC_A_Moral_Philosophy_That_Will_Change_Your_Life_2026-01-30

M4A

0:55:01