Lévinasian Ethics of Responsibility: Conditions for a Peaceful Co-existence

Huong Mai Xuan Tran

Lévinasian Ethics of Responsibility

Conditions for a Peaceful Co-existence

Authors

Huong Mai Xuan Tran Congregation of the Lovers of the Holy Cross

Keywords:

Ethical Peace, Political Peace, Ethics of Responsibility, Freedom and Hospitability

Abstract

This paper intends to discover the significance of the Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Lévinas’ perspective on human relationships, which he presents as an ethics of responsibility. We will illustrate its usefulness in contributing to an ethical peace over political peace. An ethics of responsibility is considered a pathway to promote human worthiness and create ethical peace. In each society, violence is maintained if there is still one person dominating others because of political, economic, and social status or racial and gender privilege. Lévinas proposes that relations with others should begin from the reverse instead of prioritizing ontology for ethics. For him, ethics is the priority when encountering others. This change in the paradigm of thought comes with a thorough re-examination of interpersonal relationships.

Author Biography

Huong Mai Xuan Tran, Congregation of the Lovers of the Holy Cross

Huong Mai Xuan Tran is a religious sister of the Congregation of the Lovers of the Holy Cross (LHC) of Go Vap in Vietnam since 2009. She obtained a Bachelor’s in 2019 and an Advanced Master’s in 2021 at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. In 2022, she also received a Baccalaureate in Sacred Theology (STB) and a Licentiate in Theology (STL) in 2024. She has continued her Doctorate in Sacred Theology at KU Leuven since 2021 with a dissertation titled, The Paradox of Self-sacrifice: An Ethical Analysis of the Cultural and Religious Understanding of Self- sacrifice in Vietnamese Society and Its Implication for the Apostolic Mission of the Lovers of the Holy Cross (LHC) to Women Empowerment. She intends to complete her dissertation in 2025. Her forthcoming publication, “Self-sacrifice and/or Self-love? A Plea for Proper Self-sacrifice and Proper Self-love among Vietnamese Catholics,” will appear in Hapag 21, no. 2 (2024).

Lévinasian Ethics of Responsibility: Conditions for a Peaceful Co-existence