The face-to-face relation refers to a concept in the French philosopher Emmanuel Lévinas' thought on human sociality. Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language
Lévinas' phenomenological account of the "face-to-face" encounter serves as the basis for his ethics and the rest of his philosophy. Ethics is a major branch of Philosophy, encompassing right conduct and good life For Lévinas, "Ethics is first philosophy. " Lévinas argues that the encounter of the Other through the face reveals a certain poverty which forbids a reduction to Sameness and, simultaneously, installs a responsibility for the Other in the Self. The Other or constitutive other (also referred to as othering) is a key concept in Continental philosophy, opposed to the Same In Philosophy, identity (also called sameness) is whatever makes an entity definable and recognizable in terms of possessing a set of qualities or characteristics Self is broadly defined as the essential qualities that make a person distinct from all others
Lévinas' account of the face-to-face encounter bears many similarities to Martin Buber's "I and Thou" relation. Martin Buber ( 8 February 1878 – 13 June 1965) was an Austrian Israeli Jewish Philosopher, translator Ich und Du, usually translated as I and Thou, is a book by Martin Buber, published in 1923 and first translated to English in 1937 Its influence is also particularly pronounced in Jacques Derrida's ethical writings.
The major difference between Buber's account of the I and Thou relation and the ethics of the face-to-face encounter is the application of Lévinas' asymmetry towards the other. Ich und Du, usually translated as I and Thou, is a book by Martin Buber, published in 1923 and first translated to English in 1937 For Buber, ethical relation meant a "symmetrical co-presence," while Lévinas, on the other hand, considers the relation with the other as something inherently asymmetrical: the other as they appear, the face, gives itself priority to the self, its first demand even before I react to it, love it or kill it, is: "thou shalt not kill me". Such a demand for Lévinas is prior to any reaction or any assertion of freedom by a subject. The face of the other in this sense looms above the other person and traces "where God passes. " God (the infinite Other) here refers to the God of which one cannot refuse belief in Its history, that is the God who appears in traditional belief and of scripture and not some conceptual God of philosophy or ontotheology. The Other or constitutive other (also referred to as othering) is a key concept in Continental philosophy, opposed to the Same Ontotheology means the Ontology of God and/or the theology of Being.
The face, in its nudity and defenselessness, signifies: “Do not kill me. ” This defenseless nudity is therefore a passive resistance to the desire that is my freedom. Any exemplification of the face's expression, moreover, carries with it this combination of resistance and defenselessness: Levinas speaks of the face of the other who is “widow, orphan, or stranger. ”[1]
In the face-to-face encounter we also see how Levinas splits ethics from morality. Ethics marks the primary situation of the face-to-face whereas morality comes later, as some kind of, agreed upon or otherwise, set of rules that emerge from the social situation, wherein there are more than just the two people of the face-to-face encounter.
This ethical relation for Levinas is prior to an ontology of nature, instead he refers to it as a meontology, which affirms a meaning beyond Being, a mode of non-Being (Greek: me-on). In Philosophy, ontology (from the Greek, genitive: of being (part The study of non-Being is referred to as Meontology. The word comes from the Greek for non "Me" and Ontology. Disambiguation For the Wigwam album see Being (album, for spiritual or religious beingness, see Ego (spirituality
References
- ^ Bergo, Bettina "Emmanuel Levinas". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved on 2008-05-26. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 451 - The Battle of Avarayr between Armenian rebels and the Sassanid Empire takes place
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