Error found?
Advanced Search
English Deutsch

Anerkennende Erkenntnis

Erkenntnistheoretische und ethische Überlegungen zur Fremderfahrung im Ausgang von Lévinas, Adorno und Sartre


Back to issue: Phänomenologische Forschungen 2006
DOI: https://doi.org/10.28937/1000107931
EUR 14.90


Despite all differences, Lévinas, Adorno und Sartre agree in asserting the other, non-identical and individual as opposed to an identifying epistemological concept, that causes a reduction to general categories. However, while Lévinas basically imposes a ban on knowledge and invokes a ‚non-conceptual perception‘, Adorno tries to reconcile knowledge with a nonreductive attitude, i.e. ‚using concepts to go beyond concepts‘. In analogy to Adorno’s concept, Sartre develops the so-called ‚regressive-progressive method‘, that integrates the individual into its social context, instead of reducing it to that context. This approach can be regarded as a corrective to a universalistic moral position in the sense of Habermas, because it allows to consider the peculiar characteristics of individuals and groups. Furthermore, Sartre’s position is in agreement with Honneth’s attempt to reconcile knowledge and recognition.