Levinas, the Frankfurt School and Psychoanalysis (Disseminations: Psychoanalysis in Contexts)

Talmudic scholar and postmodern philosopher Emmanuel Levinas was one of the 20th-century's most important philosophers. Maurice Blanchot, Jacques Derrida, Luce Irigaray and Jean-Franois Lyotard were among the thinkers most influenced by Levinas. Drawing upon both the object relations tradition in psychoanalysis, as well as the work of the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory, C. Fred Alford argues that postmodern ethics such as that inspired by Levinas risk devaluing ordinary human attachments in favor of relationships "without relation," as Levinas puts it. An accessible introduction to Levinas and an insightful critique of the Frankfurt School, this book will be a valuable contribution to the fields of philosophy, critical theory and psychoanalysis.