A Wandering dog as the "last Kantian in Nazi Germany": revisiting the debate on Levinas’s supposed antinaturalistic humanism

ENIn this essay, I will revisit the debate about Levinas’s supposed antinaturalistic humanism. For this purpose, I will first outline the counter-arguments put forward against Levinas and then analyze one of his essays, which has been interpreted in line with the critique of his position, “The Name of a Dog, or Natural Rights.” On the basis of this analysis, I will present some problems with a naturalistic understanding of human nature and clarify in what respect Levinas’s humanism is antinaturalistic. Thereafter, Levinas’s reception and modification of Kant’s heritage will come into focus. Finally, I will point to problems with Levinas’s account and, in a critical appraisal of it, I will explore the ethical dilemmas of which the hyperbolic formulations in Levinas’s later writings are symptomatic.