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John D. Caputo
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Against Ethics: Contributions to a Poetics of Obligation with Constant Reference to Deconstruction (Studies in Continental Thought) Kindle Edition

by John D. Caputo (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.7 out of 5 stars 15 ratings
A brilliant and witty postmodern critique of ethics, framed as a contemporary restaging of Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling.

John D. Caputo undertakes a passionate, poetic, and satiric search for the basis of an ethics in the postmodern situation. Restaging Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling, Caputo defends the notion of obligation without ethics, of responsibility without the support of ethical foundations. Retelling the story of Abraham and Isaac, he strikes the pose of a postmodern-day Johannes de Silentio, accompanied by communications from such startling figures as Johanna de Silentio, Felix Sineculpa, and Magdalena de la Cruz. In dialogue with the thought of Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Derrida, and Lyotard, Caputo forges a challenging, original account of what is possible and what is not possible for a continentalist ethics today.

“Against Ethics is a bold work. . . . A counterethics whose multiple voices will be heard long after the trivializing arguments of many analytic ethicists have vanished and the arcane formulations of many postmoderns have been jettisoned.” —Edith Wyschogrod

“Caputo provides a brilliant new analysis of the limits of ethics. . . . Essential reading for anyone concerned with the philosophical issues raised in postmodernity.” —Drucilla Cornell

“One of the most important works on philosophical ethics written in recent years. . . . Caputo speaks with a passion and concern that are rare in academic philosophy.” —Mark C. Taylor

“Against Ethics is beautifully written, clever, learned, thought-provoking, and even inspiring.” —Theological Studies

“Writing in the form of his ideas, Caputo offers the reader a truly exquisite reading experience. . . . His iconic style mirrors a truly refreshing honesty that draws the reader in to play.” —Quarterly Journal of Speech
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  1. Part of series
    Studies in Continental Thought
  2. Print length
    299 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Indiana University Press
  5. Publication date
    October 22, 1993
  6. File size
    2.5 MB
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From the Back Cover

John D. Caputo undertakes a passionate, poetic, and satiric search for the basis of an ethics in the postmodern situation. Caputo defends the notion of obligation without ethics, of responsibility without the support of ethical foundations.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08H4PYMWZ
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Indiana University Press (October 22, 1993)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 22, 1993
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2.5 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 299 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 out of 5 stars 15 ratings

About the author

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John D. Caputo

John D. Caputo

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John D. Caputo, the Thomas J. Watson Professor of Religion Emeritus (Syracuse University) and the David R. Cook Professor of Philosophy Emeritus (Villanova University) is a hybrid philosopher/theologian who works in the area of radical theology. His most recent book, "The Insistence of God: A Theology of Perhaps," is a sequel to The Weakness of God, which develops his concept of radical theology and engages in dialogue with Malabou, Zizek and Latour. He has also just published "Truth," a part of the Penguin “Philosophy in Transit” series, aimed a general audience. His interest is centered on a poetics of the "event" harbored in the name of God, a notion that depends upon a reworking of the notions of event in Derrida and Deleuze. His past books have attempted to persuade us that hermeneutics goes all the way down ("Radical Hermeneutics"), that Derrida is a thinker to be reckoned with by theology ("The Prayers and Tears of Jacques Derrida"), and that theology is best served by getting over its love affair with power and authority and embracing what Caputo calls, following St. Paul, "The Weakness of God." His notion of the weakness of God, an expression that needs to be interpreted carefully by following what he means by "event," is reducible neither to an orthodox notion of kenosis nor to a death of God theology (Altizer, Zizek), although it bears comparison to both. He has also addressed wider-than-academic audiences in "On Religion," "Philosophy and Theology," and "What Would Jesus Deconstruct?" and has an interest in interacting with working church groups like Ikon and the Emergent Church. While at Syracuse, Professor Caputo specialized in continental philosophy of religion, which means both working on radical approaches to religion and theology in the light of contemporary phenomenology, hermeneutics and deconstruction, and tracking down the traces of radical religious and theological motifs in contemporary continental philosophy.

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  • Ben
    5.0 out of 5 stars This book saved my life. John D. Caputo ...
    Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    This book saved my life. John D. Caputo gave me purpose and meaning, when I thought it had all been stripped away. I thought I was doomed to be lost, fumbling through the dark abyss until eventually I would have no choice but to end it all, out of my own misery and confusion and feeling of hopelessness. But this man saved me with that last section. Specifically the line, "It is not a question of finding an answer to the night of truth, but of sitting up with one another through the night... of dividing the abyss in half, in a companionship that is its own meaning." Brings tears to my eye every time. Thank you for saving me.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Wayne
    4.0 out of 5 stars Love, and do what you will. (p. 121)
    Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    John Caputo (a Kierkegaardian pseudonym no doubt--so we will call him by his real name, Jack) uses his shocking, satirical, deconstructive voice in an impish, wild dance "Against Ethics." Don't get me wrong, he is very serious--an intellectual Monty Python with teeth. He skewers the philosophical and human history of those who would step over the line and presume to "know" what is the truth, and thereby contribute to the misery of humanity--commonly known as the violent error of self-righteousness--which leaves dead bodies, literally and personally, in its wake.

    He skewers Hegel, Heidiegger and even the more careful Merleau Ponty (who, granted, slips into idealism at times) for trying to claim a perfect world, a shinny world, a perfectly embodied world and thereby evade the imperfect, the dull, and the broken-bodied of this world.

    If you woke up one morning as Kafka's cockroach in Metamorphosis, Jack would be right there by your side, rubbing shoulders with you as you waddled through the dusty corners of life-- not trying to eliminate your pestiness with the ethics of RAID. He resists nihilism as did Nietzche (p. 235), and loves the deconstructed shadows that follow in his wake (and that of Derrida).

    No, Jack is more of a court jester, a wise guy, a master of word play and language games in order to undercut false authority, harmful judgment and narcissism. While he claims to have minimal knowledge of truth, plays the humble card and keeps a low profile--he is all the while keeping close watch on you, lest you make one false step of claiming too much--which is nearly anything--since all propositions propose too much.

    He in fact deconstructs judging as: "not primarily a matter of applying the law, but of lifting the law" ". . . in order to judge what is happening" (pp. 108, 106). And "Forgiving is just forgetting" (p. 110)--It never happened--forget about it.

    Rather than attempt to unravel the phenomenological riddle of being and of bodies of sound mind and physical health, Jack prefers to focus on flesh. Not the healthy embodied/world existence of Merleau Ponty's flesh, but of human flesh that is bruised and cut and bloodied. Because that is what happens as a result of the inescapable obligation that the Other (person) brings to each of us.

    We are fundamentally challenged to respond by either reaching out and touching the Other(s) around us, or by hitting, rejecting avoiding their obligation on us. And we can never trust that our reaching out and touching others is true altruism, because we are impossibly selfish, and in fundamental ways, rejecting, so that we hit and hurt, literally or otherwise. That's what we do, and that is not ok, so we are in deep need to forget about it.

    Despite his scandalous, dark and satirical intentions, there are occasional bright spots in the abyss:

    "What is at issue is not the purpose of what happens but whether one rejoices in what is happening, whether what is happening is a joy or a disaster, or something in between" (p. 233)

    "The point is not the `meaning' of events but rather the 'joie de vivre,' the joy of ordinary life, of our days and works, of the finite, immanent, intermediary goals of daily life, the surpassing joy of the day-to-day, or work and companionship, the exultation in the ordinary, which is, after all, what there is" (p. 234)

    "My interest lies with people so exposed to the abyss by which events are inhabited that they cannot get as far as ordinary life and its ordinary joys and sorrows" (p. 235)

    "Faith is not a way of escaping what happens, but a way of interpreting it and coming to grips with it" (p. 245)

    It is not by accident that there are echoes of the Sermon on the Mount throughout "Against Ethics".

    P.S. This book makes most sense if you are a continental philosopher, have a stomach for satire, word play and life's impossibilities.

    P.S.S: St. Augustine's seventh homily on the First Epistle of John, paragraph 8:
    Once for all, then, a short precept is given you:
    Love, and do what you will:
    whether you hold your peace,
    through love hold your peace;
    whether you cry out, through love cry out;
    whether you correct, through love correct;
    whether you spare, through love do you spare:
    let the root of love be within,
    of this root can nothing spring but what is good.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • charles seivard
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2016
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    Good
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  • Charlotte
    5.0 out of 5 stars A poetic and brilliant masterpiece
    Reviewed in the United States on January 13, 2015
    This is my favorite book of all time, perhaps only equal to "Ethics" by Spinoza. "Against Ethics is a masterpiece. It brings me to tears.
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  • kurt_schneider@heald.edu
    4.0 out of 5 stars rethinking ethics!!!
    Reviewed in the United States on June 1, 1998
    This is a great book, although it really is a bitch to read. It helps to be well-read and have a background in Nietische (which I don't) This book however really helped in through grad school. If you are stuck in an ethics debate, or in an ethics class, this book will be invaluable.
    8 people found this helpful
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  • "hotdog23"
    3.0 out of 5 stars Against ethics, but in support of justice?
    Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2002
    I was doing fine with this book until about 1/4 of the way through. It was at this point that the author introduced the discussion of justice, and this with somewhat surprising reverence. He cites Derrida as saying, "Justice in itself, if such a thing exists, outside or beyond the law, is not deconstructable." Now Caputo, eager to line up behind his hero Derrida, runs wild with this.
    His polemic for the value of justice would be somewhat more bearable if he didn't refer to the "innocent suffering" of people. Innocent entails the existence of guilt and suffering is implied to be 'evil', so that what he is really saying is for someone to suffer injustice is unethical, otherwise we could not speak of 'innocence.' He does not go so far as to write that we can speak of what justice or injustice actually is, but makes it quite clear that such injustices do exist; the implications of 'innocent suffering' demand it, for what is to say suffering is 'good' or 'bad' that we should think anything at all of it? The whole chapter seemed to me to be an underhanded attempt to encourage a tolerance for pluarity as long as there is no 'innocent suffering' . . . an obvious attempt to label such acts as murder, rape, genocide, etc., objectively undesirable because they create innocent suffering, while trying to maintain that ethics are subjective, which strikes me as being somewhat odd and ideologically/politcally motivated.
    Fortunately, the idea of innocence does not creep far into the book and later chapters restore the radicalism of ethics.
    12 people found this helpful
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