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UB faculty member Richard A. Cohen has been honored with a new scholarly volume dedicated to his lifelong work on the philosophy of ethics. 

"The Event of the Good: Reading Levinas in a Levinasian Way" brings together contributions from 21 scholars across the globe; it was published by SUNY Press in July.

The 405-page collection honors Cohen’s distinctive interpretations of French philosopher Emmanuel Levinas, a major figure in 20th-century ethical philosophy. The essays span topics like politics, the body, art, immigration and Judaism — all viewed through the ethical lens Levinas helped shape and Cohen has expanded.

“Cohen has evolved a register and tone that convey urgency without sacrificing scholarly rigor,” writes scholar Edith Wyschgrod.

Cohen, professor in the Department of Jewish Thought and affiliated faculty in the departments of Philosophy and Comparative Literature, was a student of Levinas’ at the Sorbonne.

Cohen works in the area of modern and contemporary continental philosophy and Jewish thought, with a recent emphasis on political philosophy. He has published numerous books, the most recent of which is “Out of Control: Confrontations between Spinoza and Levinas.”

Cohen is director of the Levinas Philosophy Summer Seminar, which was funded by the NEH in 2017 and 2020.

He has served as chair of the Department of Jewish Thought, and before that as director of the Institute of Jewish Thought and Heritage, which preceded the department.