Ethics
as first philosophy
Emmanuel Levinas is one of the
greatest thinkers of the twentieth century , but the complexity of his thought, as well
as Heidegger’s, prevents a real spread / democratization of his work. One of
his most important works is Totality and Infinity: An essay on exteriority. In
the latter, Levinas, according to a phenomenological method, describes how
subjectivity arises from the idea of infinity, and how infinite is a product
of the relationship of self to another.
His project, ultimately, is to
ask the primacy of the other so to ask entity unconditional and based on the
epiphany of the face. Others and me is me responsible for him. The infinite is
another who meets me. In other words, the infinite is the starting point of
morality, its foundation. This infinity is irreducible to knowledge, any
knowledge of the principles. Levinas rejects any moral intellectualism.
However, Levinas admits that man is not naturally moral, it must be awaken to
ethics: it is the desire of others.
Thus, Levinas makes ethics,
respect for others, the first philosophy. It is therefore a reversal of the
ontological approach to the subject.
But the ultimate goal of the
project is that lévinassien a radical transcendence, of God.
Levinas
: from the same to the other
Levinas argues that ontology
enacts a relationship with another being that reduces to the same. Instead,
Levinas adopts an approach that does not reduce the other to the same, but
considers the separation between himself and the other as inherent in the relationship
with Being.
According to Levinas, the
externality is how the individual transcends finite into the infinite. The
externality is a relationship in which the self is separate from the other. The
externality is a relationship where the being of self and other can not be
aggregated or fused to infinity, because they are completely separated.
Intersubjectivity is the
product of interiority. The Interiority is a subjective report in which a being
refers to itself. Subjectivity allows itself to be considered as separate from
the other. The externality is a state of being in which the self can not be
merged into a whole.
The home must be separated
from each other in order to have the idea of infinity. The idea of the
infinite is in itself a form of transcendence in relation to the Other. This is
the idea of the infinite in me that saves me solipsism and open myself to the
externality.
The other is absolutely other
than the Self. The Other is other than oneself. The Other is infinitely
transcendent reality.
The idea of infinity
requires the separation of the Same and the Other. This separation is a drop in
the same and the other from the whole.
Levinas distinguishes between
the idea of totality and the idea of infinity. The idea of trying to
integrate all the different and the same in all, while the idea of infinity
maintains separation between the other and the same. According to Levinas, the
idea is all theoretical, while the idea of infinity is moral.
The
importance of face
Face of the Other is how the
Other reveals itself. The face of the Other is the exteriority of his being.
Face to face is an ethical relationship, and calls the freedom of self
responsibility. Levinas explains that the face of the Other talking to
yourself. Language begins with the presence of the face with the expression.
Language is a system of interaction in which meaning is derived from the face
of the Other. The Other is the signifier, which manifests itself in language by
the production of signs, which offer objective reality or thematize the world.
But the Other itself can not be thematized. The theming is a form of
objectification: the Other is irreducible gold, definitely subject, infinitely
other.
Face, this absolutely other,
is not a negation of the self. The presence of the Other does not contradict
the freedom of self. I can kill the other, but his face reminds me of my
responsibility.
Conclusion of the summary on
Totality and Infinity:
Totality and Infinity is a
profound and challenging work. Levinas expresses a interesting perspective on
the problem of modern alienation in that it explains how the separation can be
understood as a fundamental condition of being.
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