The Face of the Other as Human Facticity: From Husserlian Lebenswelt to Levinasian Alteritya

Authors: Cristine Celich G*

DOI: 10.23880/phij-16000176

Volume 4, Issue 2

Abstract

This article aims to demonstrate the possibility of a connection between phenomenology, human facticity and ethics. The possibility of connection between the concepts becomes pertinent from the philosophy of Husserl and the philosophy of Levinas, for both are inserted in the phenomenological theme. Since Husserl’s discovery that science, when based on concepts, on reason, has separated itself from the concrete world and the experiences of the subjects, it has lost its ethical dimension. Therefore, Husserl, in formulating the phenomenological method, sought to recover the pre-scientific sphere of life. This sphere is characterized by being richer and wider than the objective world of science. Facing this, Levinas, having Husserl as his master, managed, based on some Husserlian concepts such as Lebenswelt and the “return to the same things”, to find in the figure of the Face of the Other an irreducible human facticity to all apprehension and understanding by the concept. Thus, Levinas explains that ethics focuses on the Face of otherness. Therefore, to demonstrate these ideas, first, some Husserlian concepts are presented regarding Lebenswelt, so that later, the Levinasian concepts which lead to the meeting of irreducible human facticity in the Face of the Other can be introduced.

Keywords: Phenomenology; Ethics; Human Facticity; Levinas; Husserl

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