Abstract

As Kosky and Avram show, the work of Levinas represents a significant contribution because he takes seriously the challenge posed by the decay of religious traditions and other inherited frameworks of meaning and he insists on the unconditional character of the good. Nonetheless, critical questions about the adequacy of this contribution need to be pressed more forcefully. I suggest that from the point of view of theological ethics his work is problematic in three ways: He can give little guidance concerning what values we ought to seek; in indentifying the good with the event of encountering the completely other, he falsely in- flates moral demands at the same time that he devalues commonalities; and he offers scant grounds for affirming the goodness of being.