O rosto como via de acesso ao infinito e a ética em Emmanuel Levinas

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the theme of the Face in Emmanuel Levinas philosophy. This theme grants the author a certain exclusivity, since there is no precedent in history that approaches it from such a radical philosophical perspective. Therefore, themes inherent to Levinas philosophy, such as infinity and ethics, contribute to the fullness of our intention. In this sense, the Levinasian itinerary acquires a new characteristic centered on the figure of the Other within an ethical-metaphysical perspective, in which the epiphany of the face already demands responsibility. As one of the central themes in Levinas philosophy, the responsibility for the Other transcends the ontological perspective proposed by the philosophical tradition, culminating in Heidegger, reversing the dynamics of being sensitive to totalizing interpretations by proposing a new perspective based on exteriority with an ethical meaning. The Other who is there, in his exteriority, as a being among beings, is different from me, where I can do anything about him, including denying his right to exist. However, it is also the one over whom I can have no power. In other words: I cannot escape the responsibility that its face demands. The radicality of Levinas's thought goes beyond the immanent condition of being and opens a crack in the horizon of the entity, to the point of revealing the face of the Other and, from there, penetrating the horizon of the infinite. In this sense, our proposal converges with the dynamics of Levinasian thought, in which ethics is the first philosophy and its realization is an immanent condition.