Of Ethics: Emmanuel Levinas : The Genealogy

: The "face" is not just physical features but a manifestation of the Other’s extreme vulnerability and infinite uniqueness (alterity).

Levinas argued that Western philosophy has traditionally prioritized —the study of being—which tends to "totalize" and absorb everything into the self's own categories of understanding. Emmanuel Levinas : the genealogy of ethics

: He criticized the historical focus on the "Same," where the unique "Other" is reduced to an object of knowledge. : The "face" is not just physical features

Emmanuel Levinas (1905–1995) redefined ethics by positioning it not as a branch of philosophy, but as . His "genealogy of ethics" traces the origins of morality to a pre-conscious, immediate encounter with "the Other" that precedes knowledge, reason, and individual freedom. 1. Ethics as First Philosophy Infinite and Asymmetrical Responsibility

Levinas’s genealogy describes responsibility as something rather than chosen. Emmanuel Levinas - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

: While a "totalizing" mindset seeks to understand and control the Other, the encounter with the face reveals an "infinity" that can never be fully grasped or possessed. 3. Infinite and Asymmetrical Responsibility