Loving More, Being Less: Reflections on Vladimir Jankélévitch’s Le paradoxe de la morale
In Le paradoxe de la morale, Vladimir Jankélévitch proposes that the moral life is a matter of balancing the demands of love, which call us to give without limit, and our natural, egoistical attachment to self, which he terms 'being'. This balancing act is ultimately paradoxical since love...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University Library System, University of Pittsburgh
2014-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of French and Francophone Philosophy |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://jffp.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/jffp/article/view/637 |
| _version_ | 1828097819723956224 |
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| author | Jennifer Rosato |
| author_facet | Jennifer Rosato |
| author_sort | Jennifer Rosato |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In Le paradoxe de la morale, Vladimir Jankélévitch proposes that the moral life is a matter of balancing the demands of love, which call us to give without limit, and our natural, egoistical attachment to self, which he terms 'being'. This balancing act is ultimately paradoxical since love must both depend on and overcome being. The vision of moral life as a paradoxical balancing act of love and being, however, is implicitly challenged by another, "supernatural" vision of ethics that Jankélévitch proposes near the end of the text. In these passages, the egoism of being that marks human nature is not merely balanced but genuinely transformed by the passionate care for an other. In this paper, these two visions of the ethical life offered by Jankélévitch's text are discussed in turn, and a way to read them as complementary rather than contradictory is proposed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T07:52:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9e3f09bfa658498da62069675072877f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2155-1162 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T07:52:58Z |
| publishDate | 2014-12-01 |
| publisher | University Library System, University of Pittsburgh |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of French and Francophone Philosophy |
| spelling | doaj.art-9e3f09bfa658498da62069675072877f2022-12-22T04:36:02ZengUniversity Library System, University of PittsburghJournal of French and Francophone Philosophy2155-11622014-12-012228410310.5195/jffp.2014.637561Loving More, Being Less: Reflections on Vladimir Jankélévitch’s Le paradoxe de la moraleJennifer Rosato0Mount Saint Mary's UniversityIn Le paradoxe de la morale, Vladimir Jankélévitch proposes that the moral life is a matter of balancing the demands of love, which call us to give without limit, and our natural, egoistical attachment to self, which he terms 'being'. This balancing act is ultimately paradoxical since love must both depend on and overcome being. The vision of moral life as a paradoxical balancing act of love and being, however, is implicitly challenged by another, "supernatural" vision of ethics that Jankélévitch proposes near the end of the text. In these passages, the egoism of being that marks human nature is not merely balanced but genuinely transformed by the passionate care for an other. In this paper, these two visions of the ethical life offered by Jankélévitch's text are discussed in turn, and a way to read them as complementary rather than contradictory is proposed.http://jffp.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/jffp/article/view/637vladimir jankélévitchle paradoxe de la moralelovebeingethics |
| spellingShingle | Jennifer Rosato Loving More, Being Less: Reflections on Vladimir Jankélévitch’s Le paradoxe de la morale Journal of French and Francophone Philosophy vladimir jankélévitch le paradoxe de la morale love being ethics |
| title | Loving More, Being Less: Reflections on Vladimir Jankélévitch’s Le paradoxe de la morale |
| title_full | Loving More, Being Less: Reflections on Vladimir Jankélévitch’s Le paradoxe de la morale |
| title_fullStr | Loving More, Being Less: Reflections on Vladimir Jankélévitch’s Le paradoxe de la morale |
| title_full_unstemmed | Loving More, Being Less: Reflections on Vladimir Jankélévitch’s Le paradoxe de la morale |
| title_short | Loving More, Being Less: Reflections on Vladimir Jankélévitch’s Le paradoxe de la morale |
| title_sort | loving more being less reflections on vladimir jankelevitch s le paradoxe de la morale |
| topic | vladimir jankélévitch le paradoxe de la morale love being ethics |
| url | http://jffp.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/jffp/article/view/637 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jenniferrosato lovingmorebeinglessreflectionsonvladimirjankelevitchsleparadoxedelamorale |