A recent thread on Hegel & co. reminds me of a very different philosopher, one whom it might be rewarding to juxtapose with Old Ez, and that is Emmanuel Levinas. The payoff, if any, would come from their being contemporaries exposed to the trauma of the war years in Europe and sharing a conviction that philosophy (and economics) must have an ethical basis. I don't know Levinas' work. My curiosity is to know whether anyone has ever pondered this connection. And my bias is the conviction that the rush to judgment by most of the p-list underrates the ethical basis of P's thought. I attach a suggestive 1995 obit from the NYTimes for those who are curious. Wayne Wayne ===== Via Betti, 289E/2 16035 Rapallo (GE) Italy pho: 0185-234-140 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://messenger.yahoo.com