The Categorical imperative and the face of the Other: Immanuel Kant and Emmanuel Levinas
LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Immanuel Kant (Imanuelis Kantas); Emanuelis Levinas (Emmanuel Levinas); Kategorinis imperatyvas; Kito veidas; Kant; Categorical imperative; Face of the Other.
ENImmanuel Kant (1724-1804) and Emmanuel Levinas (1905- 1996) are separated in time by two centuries, but by their origin in geographical space they are nearly neighbours. The distance from Keningsberg where Kant lived and Kovno where Levinas was born is not very great. One belongs to the tradition of German philosophy, the other - to the French, but they both can be considered as “the most Lithuanian” of all famous philosophers. J. Stradinis in his article “Did Kantian ancestors descend from the Kurshes?” writes, that together with German blood Kant has a bit not Scottish, as it was suggested earlier, but Kurshian and, it seems Lithuanian. He suggests deriving the origin of Kant’s name from the place Kantwain - nowadays the village Kanivonai in the Šilutės district, five kilometers East of Priekule. Stradinis explains that Kant’s great-grandfather was a tavern-keeper in Rusne, and his father and grandfather were saddle-makers1. Maybe for this kinship, or maybe for some strictness of thinking and for this reason - proximity to some “archetypal forms” of Lithuanian mentality, Kant never lacked attention from Lithuanian philosophy critics. [Extract, p. 41]
