Heterology, transcendence and the sacred: on Bataille and Levinas

John Lechte

doi:10.1177/0263276416636200

Heterology, transcendence and the sacred: on Bataille and Levinas

John Lechte

Department of Sociology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This article examines the issues surrounding transcendence, the Other and base materialism in relation to Georges Bataille’s heterology and Emmanuel Levinas’s notion of the face of the Other as infinity and transcendence. The article concludes that there is no facet of human existence – including work and the economy – which is not touched by transcendence, and that the idea that there are societies based in subsistence and in nothing but a ‘struggle for existence’ is a prejudice of modernity.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	93-113
Number of pages	21
Journal	Theory, Culture and Society
Volume	35
Issue number	4-5
Early online date	28 Jul 2017
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276416636200
Publication status	Published - 1 Sep 2018

Keywords

Agamben
Bataille
Levinas
life
other
sacred
transcendence

Access to Document

10.1177/0263276416636200

Link to publication in Scopus

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