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Year 2023, Volume: 5 Issue: 1, 81 - 95, 21.06.2023

Abstract

References

  • Alexander, B.K., Arasaratnam, L.A., Durham, A., Flores, L., Leeds-Hurwitz, W., Mendoza, S.L., Halualani, R. (2014). Identifying key intercultural urgencies, issues, and challenges in today’s world: Connecting our scholarship to dynamic contexts and historical moments. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 7(1), 38–67. https://doi.org/10.1080/17513057.2014.869527
  • Bergo, B. (1999). Levinas between ethics and politics: For the beauty that adorns the earth. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
  • Butler, J. (2004). Precarious life: The powers of mourning and violence. New York, NY: Verso.
  • Butler, J. (2012). Precarious life, vulnerability, and the ethics of cohabitation. The Journal of Speculative Philosophy (Special Issue with the Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy), 26(2), 134-151. DOI: 10.5325/jspecphil.26.2.0134
  • Dervin, F. (2016). Interculturality in education: A theoretical and methodological toolbox. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Doi: 10.1057/978-1-137-54544-2
  • Ferri, G. (2014). Ethical communication and intercultural responsibility: A philosophical perspective. Language and Intercultural Communication, 14(1), 7–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2013.866121
  • Ferri, G. (2016). Intercultural competence and the promise of understanding. In F. Dervin & Z. Gross (Eds.), Intercultural competence: Alternative approaches for today’s education (pp. 59–77). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Ferri G. (2018a). Intercultural communication-current challenges and future directions. In: Intercultural Communication: Critical Approaches and Future Challenges (pp. 1-13). Palgrave Macmillan: Cham. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73918-2_1
  • Ferri G. (2018b) The Ethics of interculturalism. In: Intercultural Communication: Critical Approaches and Future Challenges (pp. 47-68). Palgrave Macmillan: Cham https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73918-2_3
  • Guilherme, M., Keating, C., & Hoppe, D. (2010). Intercultural responsibility: Power and ethics in intercultural dialogue and interaction. In M. Guilherme, E. Glaser, & M. del Carmen Méndez Garcia (Eds.), The intercultural dynamics of multicultural working (pp. 77–94). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
  • Holliday, A. (2010). Intercultural communication and ideology. London: Sage.
  • Kearney, R. (2004) Debates in continental philosophy: Conversations with contemporary thinkers. New York: Fordham University Press.
  • Levinas, E. (1969). Totality and infinity: An essay on exteriority (A. Lingis, Trans.). Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press.
  • Levinas, E. (1998). Otherwise than being: Or beyond essence (A. Lingis, Trans.). Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press.
  • Lyotard, J. F. (1979). The postmodern condition: A report on knowledge. Manchester: Manchester University Press. MacDonald, M. N., & O’Regan, J. (2012). The ethics of intercultural communication. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 45(10), 1005–1017. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-5812.2011.00833.x
  • Morrison, A. (2018). Rescuing politics from liberalism: Butler and Mouffe on affectivity and the place of ethics. Philosophy & Social Criticism, 44(5), 528–549. https://doi.org/10.1177/0191453717730875
  • Mouffe, C. (2005). On the Political. London: Verso.
  • Murray, W. F. (2000). Bakhtinian answerability and Levinasian responsibility: Forging a fuller dialogical communicative ethics. Southern Journal of Communication, 65(2-3), 133-150. https://doi.org/10.1080/10417940009373163
  • Ucok-Sayrak, O. (2016). Attending to the “face of the other” in intercultural communication: Thinking and talking about difference, identity, and ethics. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 9(2), 122-139. https://doi.org/10.1080/17513057.2016.1142600
  • Warren, J.T. (2008). Performing difference: Repetition in context. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 1(4), 290–308. https://doi.org/10.1080/17513050802344654
  • Yin, J. (2009). Negotiating the centre: towards an Asiacentric feminist communication theory. Journal of Multicultural Discourses, 4(1), 75-88. https://doi.org/10.1080/17447140802651660

Rethinking the Relationship of Ethics and Interculturality: A Dialogue with Levinas and Butler

Year 2023, Volume: 5 Issue: 1, 81 - 95, 21.06.2023

Abstract

This paper aims to open the conceptualizations of difference, the other and the self as the key terms in the epistemology of interculturality into questioning in a dialogue with the ethical frameworks of Levinas and Butler. In this sense, the paper attempts to contribute to reformulating the idea of self and other within the scholarship of interculturality. Objecting to the Kantian ethics based on the reason and consciousness of the self with reference to its relation to the other, the paper adopts Levinas’s notion of ‘absolute otherness’ which proposes encountering the Other in his unique and absolute difference beyond the consciousness of the self and without reducing it to the sameness of the self. The possibility of an ethical obligation on a global scale is also argued in the paper with particular reference to Butler’s concepts of precariousness and vulnerability. Drawing on the idea of ethical obligation based on affect by Butler who built on the notion of otherness in Levinasian ethics, the paper endeavors to add a layer of affect to the discussion of ethics and interculturality in the proposed ethical framework.

References

  • Alexander, B.K., Arasaratnam, L.A., Durham, A., Flores, L., Leeds-Hurwitz, W., Mendoza, S.L., Halualani, R. (2014). Identifying key intercultural urgencies, issues, and challenges in today’s world: Connecting our scholarship to dynamic contexts and historical moments. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 7(1), 38–67. https://doi.org/10.1080/17513057.2014.869527
  • Bergo, B. (1999). Levinas between ethics and politics: For the beauty that adorns the earth. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
  • Butler, J. (2004). Precarious life: The powers of mourning and violence. New York, NY: Verso.
  • Butler, J. (2012). Precarious life, vulnerability, and the ethics of cohabitation. The Journal of Speculative Philosophy (Special Issue with the Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy), 26(2), 134-151. DOI: 10.5325/jspecphil.26.2.0134
  • Dervin, F. (2016). Interculturality in education: A theoretical and methodological toolbox. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Doi: 10.1057/978-1-137-54544-2
  • Ferri, G. (2014). Ethical communication and intercultural responsibility: A philosophical perspective. Language and Intercultural Communication, 14(1), 7–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2013.866121
  • Ferri, G. (2016). Intercultural competence and the promise of understanding. In F. Dervin & Z. Gross (Eds.), Intercultural competence: Alternative approaches for today’s education (pp. 59–77). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Ferri G. (2018a). Intercultural communication-current challenges and future directions. In: Intercultural Communication: Critical Approaches and Future Challenges (pp. 1-13). Palgrave Macmillan: Cham. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73918-2_1
  • Ferri G. (2018b) The Ethics of interculturalism. In: Intercultural Communication: Critical Approaches and Future Challenges (pp. 47-68). Palgrave Macmillan: Cham https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73918-2_3
  • Guilherme, M., Keating, C., & Hoppe, D. (2010). Intercultural responsibility: Power and ethics in intercultural dialogue and interaction. In M. Guilherme, E. Glaser, & M. del Carmen Méndez Garcia (Eds.), The intercultural dynamics of multicultural working (pp. 77–94). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
  • Holliday, A. (2010). Intercultural communication and ideology. London: Sage.
  • Kearney, R. (2004) Debates in continental philosophy: Conversations with contemporary thinkers. New York: Fordham University Press.
  • Levinas, E. (1969). Totality and infinity: An essay on exteriority (A. Lingis, Trans.). Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press.
  • Levinas, E. (1998). Otherwise than being: Or beyond essence (A. Lingis, Trans.). Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press.
  • Lyotard, J. F. (1979). The postmodern condition: A report on knowledge. Manchester: Manchester University Press. MacDonald, M. N., & O’Regan, J. (2012). The ethics of intercultural communication. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 45(10), 1005–1017. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-5812.2011.00833.x
  • Morrison, A. (2018). Rescuing politics from liberalism: Butler and Mouffe on affectivity and the place of ethics. Philosophy & Social Criticism, 44(5), 528–549. https://doi.org/10.1177/0191453717730875
  • Mouffe, C. (2005). On the Political. London: Verso.
  • Murray, W. F. (2000). Bakhtinian answerability and Levinasian responsibility: Forging a fuller dialogical communicative ethics. Southern Journal of Communication, 65(2-3), 133-150. https://doi.org/10.1080/10417940009373163
  • Ucok-Sayrak, O. (2016). Attending to the “face of the other” in intercultural communication: Thinking and talking about difference, identity, and ethics. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 9(2), 122-139. https://doi.org/10.1080/17513057.2016.1142600
  • Warren, J.T. (2008). Performing difference: Repetition in context. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 1(4), 290–308. https://doi.org/10.1080/17513050802344654
  • Yin, J. (2009). Negotiating the centre: towards an Asiacentric feminist communication theory. Journal of Multicultural Discourses, 4(1), 75-88. https://doi.org/10.1080/17447140802651660
There are 21 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Language Studies
Journal Section Articles
Authors

Özkan Öztürk

Yasemin Erdoğan-öztürk 0000-0001-5033-0436

Publication Date June 21, 2023
Published in Issue Year 2023 Volume: 5 Issue: 1

Cite

APA Öztürk, Ö., & Erdoğan-öztürk, Y. (2023). Rethinking the Relationship of Ethics and Interculturality: A Dialogue with Levinas and Butler. Eurasian Journal of English Language and Literature, 5(1), 81-95.