The Origins of Responsibility

Fran ois Raffoul approaches the concept of responsibility in a manner that is distinct from its traditional interpretation as accountability of the willful subject. Exploring responsibility in the works of Nietzsche, Sartre, Levinas, Heidegger, and Derrida, Raffoul identifies decisive moments in the development of the concept, retrieves its origins, and explores new reflections on it. For Raffoul, responsibility is less about a sovereign subject establishing a sphere of power and control than about exposure to an event that does not come from us and yet calls to us. These original and thoughtful investigations of the post-metaphysical senses of responsibility chart new directions for ethics in the continental tradition.

Author: François Raffoul
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Published: 04/13/2010
Pages: 360
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.00w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9780253221735

Review Citation(s):
Choice 12/01/2010

About the Author

François Raffoul is Professor of Philosophy at Louisiana State University. He is author of Heidegger and the Subject and is translator (with Andrew Mitchell) of Martin Heidegger's Four Seminars (IUP, 2003).