If you feel that you've acquitted yourself honorably, then you're not so ethical. If you...
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Quote
Avital Ronell:
This is something that Derrida has taught: if you feel that you've acquitted yourself honorably, then you're not so ethical. If you have a good conscience, then you're kind of worthless. Like, if you think, oh, I gave this homeless person five bucks, I'm great! then you're irresponsible. The responsible being is one who thinks they've never been responsible enough, they've never taken care enough of "the other". The other is so in excess of anything you can understand or grasp or reduce. This, in itself, creates an ethical relatedness. A relation without relation. Because you can't presume to know or grasp the other. The minute you think you know the other, you're ready to kill them. You think, oh, they're doing this or this, they're the axis of evil. Let's drop some bombs. But, if don't know, if you don't understand this alterity, you can't violate it with your sense of understanding, then you have to let it live, in a sense.
This is something that Derrida has taught: if you feel that you've acquitted yourself honorably, then you're not so ethical. If you have a good conscience, then you're kind of worthless. Like, if you think, oh, I gave this homeless person five bucks, I'm great! then you're irresponsible. The responsible being is one who thinks they've never been responsible enough, they've never taken care enough of "the other". The other is so in excess of anything you can understand or grasp or reduce. This, in itself, creates an ethical relatedness. A relation without relation. Because you can't presume to know or grasp the other. The minute you think you know the other, you're ready to kill them. You think, oh, they're doing this or this, they're the axis of evil. Let's drop some bombs. But, if don't know, if you don't understand this alterity, you can't violate it with your sense of understanding, then you have to let it live, in a sense.
Transcript
00:00:03.000 --> 00:00:05.332
This is something
that Derrida has taught.
00:00:05.402 --> 00:00:09.702
If you feel that you've acquitted
yourself honorably,
00:00:09.773 --> 00:00:11.707
then you're not so ethical.
00:00:11.775 --> 00:00:15.541
If you have a good conscience,
then you're kind of worthless.
00:00:15.612 --> 00:00:18.945
Like, if you think-
"Oh, I gave this homeless person
five bucks.
00:00:19.998 --> 00:00:21.883
I'm great"-
then you're irresponsible.
00:00:21.952 --> 00:00:24.887
The responsible being
is one who thinks...
00:00:24.955 --> 00:00:27.617
they've never been
responsible enough.
00:00:27.691 --> 00:00:31.388
They've never taken care enough
of the Other.
00:00:31.462 --> 00:00:35.125
The Other is so in excess...
00:00:35.199 --> 00:00:39.761
of anything you can understand
or grasp or reduce.
00:00:39.837 --> 00:00:43.466
This in itself creates
an ethical relatedness-
00:00:43.054 --> 00:00:45.906
a relation without relation,
'cause you don't know-
00:00:45.976 --> 00:00:48.074
You can't presume to know
or grasp the Other.
00:00:48.812 --> 00:00:52.976
The minute you think you know
the Other, you're ready to kill them.
00:00:53.997 --> 00:00:55.001
You think,
"Oh, they're doing this or this.
00:00:55.001 --> 00:00:59.283
They're the axis of evil.
Let's drop some bombs."
00:00:59.356 --> 00:01:03.816
But if you don't know,
you don't understand this alterity,
00:01:03.894 --> 00:01:09.056
it's so Other that you can't violate it
with your sense of understanding,
00:01:09.633 --> 00:01:12.431
then, um,
00:01:12.503 --> 00:01:15.999
you have to let it live,
in a sense.
00:01:49.002 --> 00:01:52.339
This is the center of one of
the world's richest countries...
00:01:52.001 --> 00:01:54.343
and one of the most
expensive places there,
00:01:54.411 --> 00:01:56.999
and that raises an ethical issue.
00:01:56.001 --> 00:02:00.997
I mean, there are people who have
the money to buy at these stores...
00:02:00.117 --> 00:02:04.816
and who don't seem to see any kind
of moral problem doing that.
00:02:04.001 --> 00:02:09.001
But what I want to ask is,
well, shouldn't they see some
sort of moral problem about that?
00:02:09.459 --> 00:02:13.001
Isn't there a question about
what we should be spending
our money on?
00:02:15.001 --> 00:02:20.001
So we're outside Bergdorf Goodman,
where they've got a display
of Dolce & Gabbana shoes.
00:02:20.001 --> 00:02:24.001
And it's kind of amusing to me
because about 30 years ago,
00:02:24.541 --> 00:02:27.601
I wrote an article called
"Famine, Affluence, and Morality"...
00:02:27.678 --> 00:02:29.999
in which I imagined...
00:02:29.001 --> 00:02:32.999
that you're walking
past a shallow pond,
00:02:32.001 --> 00:02:37.285
and as you walk past it
you notice there's a small child
who's fallen into the pond...
00:02:37.001 --> 00:02:39.001
and seems to be in danger
of drowning,
00:02:39.999 --> 00:02:42.999
and you look around to see
where the parents are,
and there's nobody in sight.
00:02:43.001 --> 00:02:48.999
You realize that unless you wade
into this pond and pull the child out,
00:02:48.999 --> 00:02:50.001
the child is likely to drown.
00:02:50.001 --> 00:02:53.858
There's no danger to you
because you know the pond
is just a shallow one,
Clip duration: 175 seconds
Views: 71
Timestamp in movie: 00h 10m 31s
Uploaded: 22 October, 2021
Genres: documentary
Summary: In Examined Life, filmmaker Astra Taylor accompanies some of today's most influential thinkers on a series of unique excursions through places and spaces that hold particular resonance for them and their ideas.
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