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Seeing the unseen: suggesting points for intersection between Levinasian ethics and the Daoist reverence for all beings

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Abstract

Eugene Anderson (2001) suggests that Western ethical codes be supplemented with eastern non-anthropocentrism in order for Westerners to consider the fate of non-human beings as seriously as we consider our own. In this note I build on the work of Anderson, suggesting points for intersection between the alterity of Emmanuel Levinas with the Daoist reverence for all beings.

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Notes

  1. As Roger Ames has argued, wuwei’s translation as “non-action” is unfortunate because for the Daoist it connotes a loss of one’s self in order that one might reclaim her identity as fundamentally equal to all other beings. This view is supported by A.C. Graham in his introduction to Zhuangzi’s translation.

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Correspondence to Chelsea C. Harry.

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Harry, C.C. Seeing the unseen: suggesting points for intersection between Levinasian ethics and the Daoist reverence for all beings. J Environ Stud Sci 2, 271–274 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-011-0040-1

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