| TEXT
PREPARATION 4
Assignment due in class on March 24 from some students* *Since part of the value of the text preparation assignment is that it will prepare you to be an active participant in tutorial and in class, it may only be submitted in class on the day it is due. If you have to miss that day's class, please contact me to make alternate arrangements. Please address the questions below in 3-4 well-written paragraphs (spanning about 3 pages). Since this is your first reading of this text, and since we have not yet discussed it in class, you are not being asked to supply definitive answers but preliminary, thoughtful responses based on close attention to the text. Your answers may also include 1-2 important questions raised by your reading for further discussion. |
1.
Based on your reading of Ethics and Infinity, pp.
21-25, 113-22, and "Revelation in the Jewish
Tradition," pp. 141-47 and 148-50, how does Levinas characterize
"revelation"? (2-3 paragraphs)
2.
Please read Derrida, "How
to Avoid Speaking: Denials" (1986): 143 paragraph 2 - 144 (to paragraph
break). In introducing his interest in "negative theology," Derrida explains
this concept first in a narrower, strictly theological sense (one that can be
correlated to the David Braine article on "Negative Theology" that is
also a reading for this week), and then in a broader sense, which Derrida
relates to an issue that has arisen in his own writings (which have not been
theological). In a well-written paragraph, present these two senses of
negative theology as Derrida describes them.
As you did for the Text Summary assignment, in preparing this assignment please use in-text parenthetical page references.
Suggested abbreviations to use in the parenthetical references in your answer to Question 1: "EI" for Ethics and Infinity; "RJT" for "Revelation in the Jewish Tradition"
Your assignment should be printed double-spaced and with one-inch margins, using a 10-12-point font. Please number and staple the pages you hand in.
Please keep a copy of your assignment to refer to in our class discussion.
distributed/posted March
19, 2010