The Ethical Demand Selected Works of K.E. Logstrup Series

The Ethical Demand (1956) by K. E. Løgstrup is one of the great works of modern moral philosophy: it is presented here in a new translation with introduction and notes. Løgstrup puts forward his distinctive view concerning our vulnerability to each other and what this requires of us in response. He starts by considering Jesus's 'proclamation' to love your neighbour and how this can be understood in 'purely human terms' as relating to basic features of our existence. Reflecting on the phenomenon of trust, Løgstrup emphasizes the fundamental interdependence of human life and how this gives rise to an 'ethical demand' on us to care for the other, which he characterizes as radical, silent, one-sided, and unfulfillable. In order to make sense of a demand of this sort, Løgstrup argues, we must see 'life as a gift', rather than treating ourselves as the sovereign grounds for our own existence. He contrasts this demand to social norms, which are often reciprocal in this way, and argues that while such norms are changeable, the ethical demand itself is absolute. Løgstrup therefore makes a fundamental contribution to our understanding of the nature of-and basis for-our obligations to each other. In this critical edition, Løgstrup's original text is accurately rendered into readable English and paired with an introduction which explains the main themes and wider context of the work.

Bjørn Rabjerg is Assistant Professor of Ethics and Philosophy of Religion at Aarhus University. He holds a PhD in Systematic Theology and an MA in Philosophy. He has worked extensively on Løgstrup since 2004 and in 2013 became Head of the Løgstrup Archive at Aarhus University. His most recent publications have been on Løgstrup, Kierkegaard, Luther, and Knausgård. Robert Stern is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield, where he has worked since 1989. He was previously a student and then Junior Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge. He has published extensively on Kant, Hegel, and transcendental arguments, as well as on accounts of moral obligation. He recently published the first academic monograph in English on Løgstrup, entitled The Radical Demand in Løgstrup's Ethics (Oxford 2019).