The Ethics of Alterity as First Philosophy according to Emmanuel Levinas

Abstract

The purpose of this is to present the ethics of alterity, which will be seen as a first philosophy, developed by Emmanuel Levinas. The philosopher starts from the understanding that there is a violence in the attempts to totalize and conceptualize the Other. This violence can be seen in the lack of recognition of difference. In this sense, Levinas seeks to construct an alternative path of liberation for philosophy from the shackles of the totalitarian reason of his time. In our text, we will show how this thinker establishes the primacy of ethics in relation to ontological discourse. And how the ethics of alterity, viewed as a possible path to the ethical crisis of contemporary society, establishes the Other as the regulating ideal of life.

Keywords: Alterity; Face; Ethics; Ontology.