Levinas, The Material, and Ethics (North American Levinas Society 12th Annual International Conference)

“The Other’s material needs are my spiritual needs,” Levinas says, quoting Rabbi Israel Salanter. “In corpore-ality,” he says in Otherwise Than Being, is to be found “the duty to give to the Other even the bread out of one’s own mouth and the coat from one’s shoulders.” Matter and corporeality are thus at the center of ethical service, of “hospitality.”

This conference welcomes papers addressing the issues of the material, the corporeal, in their relation to the ethical, and the political.

As has become customary in NALS over the years, however, we also welcome papers on any topic in Levinas studies that happens to be of interest to you. The official language of the conference will be English and so while we welcome papers by non-native speakers, we suggest that all papers be translated for delivery.
The deadline for receipt of proposals for individual papers or for three-person panels (of no more than 500 words) is Wednesday May 31st, 2017. Due to time considerations, this deadline is firm. Please send all proposals to Hugh Miller at nals2017@luc.edu. All submissions will be acknowledged. Notifications of the acceptance of pro-posals will be sent out by June 7, 2017. For registration and fees payment, conference program (when settled), and travel/lodging arrangements, please visit http://levinas-society.org for the link to the 2017 conference page, coming shortly.