SOUFFRANCE ETHIQUE ET SOUFFRANCE TRAGIQUE : L'ELABORATION LEVINASSIENNE DE LA CRITIQUE NIETZSCHEENNE DE LA COMPASSION

ABSTRACT This article analyses the problem of suffering in Lévinas's work in the light of Nietzsche's critic of compassion. It argues, in a first step, that although Lévinas's description of ethical suffering (namely, the idea of suffering for the other) is similar to Nietzsche's description of suffering as tragic or useless, Lévinas's first writings also focus on the political dangers associated with Nietzsche's conception of the body and of a purely tragic conception of suffering. In a second step, this article shows that the question of ethical suffering, such as Lévinas describes it, d...