Emmanuel Levinas: humanism of the face

Abstract

This paper develops the view held in relation to the Human Being in Emmanuel Levina’s philosophy, who lived the historic events of the 20th Century in Europe and focused his thinking on understanding the Human Being. Levinas criticises Western Humanism and instead proposes the Humanism of the Other which is founded in the absolute responsability towards the other. This paper, therefore, aims to study the idea that is held by the Lithuanian-born French philosopher in which subjectivity is built from the alterity as being-for-the-other, i. e., the self takes his identity from the responsibility towards the other human being. Subjectivity is then sensitivity, exposition to the other, vulnerability and responsibility in the proximity to the others. Just from this passivity we can think subjectivity, and therefore, the first one is seen as the constitutive principle of the second one. This new humanism finds its key concept in the Face which is understood as a true metaphysical category.