Abstrakt
The primacy of the other, which is often attributed to Levinas, is subjected to an exemplary literary-philosophical examination by Markus E. Hodec together with the primacy of ethics in his text Totality and Infinity of Peter Kien.
In totality and infinity, Levinas provides a philosophical template to illuminate Elias Canetti's novel Auto-da-fe. It is necessary to examine how Peter Kien, the protagonist of Auto-da-fe, can be linked to the idea of a first philosophy in the sense of Levinas - an ethics as a first philosophy which is not politics; or where the separation breaks out.
Conversely, Peter Kien's peculiar personality poses a real challenge to Levinas' approach. Canetti and Levinas leave little room for alternatives.
At least one, maybe both books are marked by the missing ending. The hopelessness of Auto-da-fe, the hopelessness of Levinas' philosophy?