Levinas - Ethics as First Philosophy

Summary of Levinas - Ethics as First Philosophy

            The first philosophy is the comprehension of being, and how it open spaces for the possibility of knowledge and wisdom (407). Contemplation is the tool used to synthesize knowledge and being.  Things become real as we contemplate them, and they become real not necessarily in themselves, but in how we interpret them. Knowledge develops through a way of knowing and making something someone’s own (407). A thing does not only become known, but it also contributes to the way of knowing. “Knowledge as perception, concept, comprehension, refers back to an act of grasping” (407).

            The beginnings of knowledge occurs in the “world of life” - those things immediate in our environment that become real (408).  Things become real, and knowledge, when it is recalled, is a re-presentation of the experience. The ability to recall and contemplate knowledge is freedom (408), but the freedom is finite in nature. Freedom to gain knowledge and to contemplate on it are inspirations to the mind (408). 

            There is a shift with modernity. Prior to modernity people shared thoughts and experiences. However, modernity relies on science. Being will be approached towards the identification of being and knowledge. Being will be considered with the characteristics of being and by whatever is known, and the wisdom of the first philosophy will be reduced to the self-conscious (409). The process of science will affirm itself as the measure of knowledge, and it’s possible for the essence of nature and life to elude of man.  However, science has also opened infinite possibilities where everything can be described, and this reinvigorates freedom.  The only check on freedom is death, but death doesn’t diminish what was learned - it only puts on a check on its powers.

            Levinas considers the consciousness as something reflective that uses intent. He also considers a passive consciousness that takes in information, but doesn’t really organize it. It’s not so much a thought brought forth, as much as it is a discreet thought making itself known.  It’s “indirect, implicit and aimless, without any initiative that might refer back to the ego” (410). It doesn’t abstract, objectify or scrutinize with the same acuity as the reflective consciousness. It serves as a partner to traditional consciousness and he considers it pre-reflective.

            He questions weather the pre-reflective conscious is knowledge - does it really know?  It just “is” without any attributes assigned to it.

            The essay shifts to Hegel’s other - See Phenomenology of Spirit - and how the above relates to establishing responsibilities towards others by considering how being affirms itself.

Levinas, Emmanuel. Ethics as First Philosophy. The Philosophy of Communication. Cambridge: MIT Press. 2012. Pp 408-417. Print.