Levinas on the Border(s) :: Teaching Education

Levinas on the Border(s)ABSTRACT This essay explores my receive situation of teaching philosophy in a more or less traditional undergraduate setting but in a way that is especially relevant to the theme of this Congress, namely, the theme of philosophy educating humanity. In my case, I teach philosophy but from a perspective that is non-traditional and which undercuts the warning questions originating from and orienting around a philosophia perennia. Specifically, I teach philosophy of holiness from the perspective of Jewish philosophy, and even more specifically, from the perspective of the French Jewish philosophy of Emmanuelle Levinas. Moreover, I teach philosophy in an educational purlieu that is representative of the greater global community because I teach at the University of Texas at El Paso, situated on the border that separates the United States and Latin America. Finally, my teaching situation is one that is further marginalized because of the precarious nature of my pedantic position, namely, trained outside the traditional borders of philosophical faculty and hunt d proclaiming at first as a part-timer and only recently as a full-time, non-tenure track teacher of philosophy and humanities. Hence, I offer my experience of doing work of successfully teaching philosophy on the borders in the hope that others self-possessed here will be challenged to think differently about their own way of educating others. What follows is about teaching the philosophy of Levinas, on the Mexico/USA border, on the border of a traditional discipline of philosophy (the philosophy of religion), and on the border of academia--as a non-tenure-track, non-traditionally trained Lecturer in Philosophy and liberal arts at the University of Texas at El Paso. The relevance of these three interrelated themes for the twentieth World Congress of Philosophy, whose theme is Philosophy Educating Humanity, should be at to the lowest degree initially obvious, but a few preliminary remarks should clear up any confusions about my title. Most important of all, my scope is broader and deeper than the stated regional or academic limits. I contend that how I do what I do where I am at, and with whom I teach and learn has inter-national and inter-cultural conditional relation which justifies inclusion of my remarks in an international Paideia forum. As a non-Jew with a degree in Religious Studies, I teach the philosophy of Levinas, a French-Jewish philosopher, in a relatively traditional Program of Philosophy to Spanish-speaking-Mexicans, Mexican-Americans, and Anglo-Americans. Moreover, I do so in the predominantly Christo-centric and conservative cultural mood of the border region of El Paso, USA and Juarez, Mexico.