Ethics of in-visibility

Claudia Welz

The hyphenated phrase 'in-visibility' indicates that the visible and the invisible are inseparable and yet in tension with each other. If originating from acts of (in)visibilization, both the visible and the invisible are ethically imbued. Whether we see or overlook each other, respect or dismiss another's dignity, remember or forget a history of crimes against humanity, our (over)sight has an impact on our interaction. What, then, is implied in seeing the human being as created in the image of an invisible God, as imago Dei? Which (re)sources in Judaism and Christianity can counter idolatry in the sense of cognitive captivity and experiences of abandonment after the Shoah? In addressing such questions, this book outlines an ethics of in-visibility in an interdisciplinary dialogue between philosophy and theology, cultural history, art and media theory, sociology, literary and gender...