The lesser good

"[Book title] examines the philosophies of Plato and Emmanuel Levinas in the context of a reflection on Western ethical failure, witnessed most poignantly in the event of the Holocaust. Western civilization is founded upon the assumption that there exists a "natural order" to the world, an embedded principle of justice with which human reason is aligned. ... While he shares Plato's sense of the ethical urgency of the philosophical task, Levinas sets a course for a new Platonism, on that is rigorously demanding of ethical response while profoundly sensitive to the exigencies of everyday life than can eclipse the demands of ethics. In this timely consideration of ethics, politics, and justice, [author] demonstrates the importance of Levina's ethical challenges to the tradition of Western thought."--Back cover.