Michael Gurstein wrote:
>
> As I recall, Levinas' intellectual antecedent wasn't Adam Smith the
> Political Economist, rather it was Georg Simmel the Sociologist who linked
> the Gift into structures of social exchange involving subtle patterns of
> culture and psychology rather than the monotonic structures of (as for
> example Chicago School interpreted) "trade".
I am not a Levinas expert, but I know one of his primary
influences was Franz Rosenzweig, a Jewish philosopher whose
thinking was also what I would call masochistic.
However, I should also say that Rosenzweig walked the walk
as well as talking the talk. He lived what he believed through
almost a decade of dying from a degenerative neurological
disease. I don't agree with Rosenzweig, but I deeply
respect him, just like I respect but have
no desire to be the one person I know in my personal
life who is a "moral giant"....
[snip]
I am at least vaguely aware of the sociological/anthropological
work on "the gift". This work has little to do with
what I am talking about. It is truly economic study --
exchange relations that bind cultures together for
practical mutual benefit.
\brad mccormick
--
Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16)
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21)
<![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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