Responsibility toward the “Other”: A critical examination of Levinas's ethical philosophy
Emmanuel Levinas introduced a radical rethinking of subjectivity that challenges the foundational assumptions of Western philosophy and conventional ethics. He contends that traditional moral frameworks are rooted in egoism, privileging autonomy, self‐interest, and self‐actualization while marginali...
Saved in:
| Published in | Metaphilosophy |
|---|---|
| Main Author | |
| Format | Journal Article |
| Language | English |
| Published |
30.07.2025
|
| Online Access | Get full text |
Cover
Loading…
| Abstract | Emmanuel Levinas introduced a radical rethinking of subjectivity that challenges the foundational assumptions of Western philosophy and conventional ethics. He contends that traditional moral frameworks are rooted in egoism, privileging autonomy, self‐interest, and self‐actualization while marginalizing the ethical significance of the Other. Levinas reorients philosophy away from a self‐centered conception of the subject toward one grounded in ethical responsibility and relationality. He argues that our responsibility toward the Other is infinite, asymmetrical, and inescapable—it is not chosen but imposed by the mere presence of the Other. Drawing on the catastrophic failures of modernity, including genocide, war, and systemic injustice, Levinas critiques the insufficiency of traditional rationalism to confront such violence. His work offers a profound shift from ontology to ethics, from being to responsibility. This article critically explores these arguments and examines their implications for rethinking ethical relations and the foundations of social and political structures. |
|---|---|
| AbstractList | Emmanuel Levinas introduced a radical rethinking of subjectivity that challenges the foundational assumptions of Western philosophy and conventional ethics. He contends that traditional moral frameworks are rooted in egoism, privileging autonomy, self‐interest, and self‐actualization while marginalizing the ethical significance of the Other. Levinas reorients philosophy away from a self‐centered conception of the subject toward one grounded in ethical responsibility and relationality. He argues that our responsibility toward the Other is infinite, asymmetrical, and inescapable—it is not chosen but imposed by the mere presence of the Other. Drawing on the catastrophic failures of modernity, including genocide, war, and systemic injustice, Levinas critiques the insufficiency of traditional rationalism to confront such violence. His work offers a profound shift from ontology to ethics, from being to responsibility. This article critically explores these arguments and examines their implications for rethinking ethical relations and the foundations of social and political structures. |
| Author | Imran, Muzzamel Hussain |
| Author_xml | – sequence: 1 givenname: Muzzamel Hussain orcidid: 0000-0001-8141-6654 surname: Imran fullname: Imran, Muzzamel Hussain organization: Department of Philosophy, School of Humanities and Social Science Tongji University Shanghai China |
| BookMark | eNotkMtKxDAYhYOMYGd04xNkJwgdc2mbibth8AYDA6JLKWn6l0bapiRB7W4eRF9unsR29GwOBz7O4pujWWc7QOiSkiUdc9NCUEtBCKUnKKJJJmIpBZ-hiBCWxZRkqzM09_6djEkFidDbM_jedt4UpjFhwMF-KlfiUAM-7L93Y7vD_ucWr7F2JhitGgxfqjWdCsZ22FZ4Cx_j8lceQ6iPQF-bxnrb18M5Oq1U4-Hivxfo9f7uZfMYb3cPT5v1NtZUshArylKpeZZKIhTXghdFtkpAatBVRUEkZcaU5lwySMpkQmlRMmA0TYGxtOQLdP33q5313kGV9860yg05JfkkJp_E5Ecx_BcBTFty |
| Cites_doi | 10.4324/9780203426821 10.1177/0191453704042217 10.5840/levinas201271 10.2307/j.ctv15d7z9r 10.1007/978-94-017-4952-7 10.5840/qd201910118 10.3138/uram.18.4.289 10.5840/acpq19916544 10.5840/philtoday19661014 10.1007/978-94-009-4364-3_3 10.1515/9781503618244 10.1080/0969725X.2019.1620459 10.1080/00071773.1982.11007593 10.1080/03080188.2018.1450927 |
| ContentType | Journal Article |
| DBID | AAYXX CITATION |
| DOI | 10.1111/meta.70011 |
| DatabaseName | CrossRef |
| DatabaseTitle | CrossRef |
| DatabaseTitleList | CrossRef |
| DeliveryMethod | fulltext_linktorsrc |
| Discipline | Philosophy |
| EISSN | 1467-9973 |
| ExternalDocumentID | 10_1111_meta_70011 |
| GroupedDBID | --Z -DZ -ET -~X .3N .GA 05W 0R~ 10A 123 1OB 1OC 29M 33P 4.4 50Y 50Z 51W 51Y 52M 52O 52Q 52S 52T 52U 52W 5HH 5LA 5VS 66C 702 7PT 8-0 8-1 8-3 8-4 8-5 8UM 930 A04 AABNI AACJB AAESR AAHQN AAKSV AAMMB AAMNL AAONW AAOUF AAXRX AAYCA AAYXX AAZKR ABCQN ABCUV ABDBF ABJNI ABLJU ABPVW ABRPL ABSOO ACAHQ ACBKW ACCZN ACGFS ACNCT ACPOU ACUHS ACXQS ADBBV ADEMA ADEOM ADIZJ ADKYN ADMGS ADMHG ADXAS ADZMN AEFGJ AEIGN AEIMD AEUYR AEYWJ AFBPY AFEBI AFFPM AFGKR AFKFF AFWVQ AFZJQ AGHNM AGXDD AHBTC AIDQK AIDYY AIURR ALAGY ALMA_UNASSIGNED_HOLDINGS ALUQN ALVPJ AMBMR AMYDB ASTYK AZBYB AZVAB BAFTC BFHJK BMXJE BNVMJ BQESF BROTX BRXPI BY8 CITATION CS3 D-C D-D DCZOG DPXWK DR2 DRFUL DRSSH DU5 EAP EBS ESX F00 F01 G-S G.N G50 GODZA GXZFM HGLYW HZI HZ~ IHE IX1 J0M K48 LATKE LC2 LC4 LEEKS LITHE LOXES LP6 LP7 LUTES LYRES MEWTI MK4 MRFUL MRSSH MSFUL MSSSH MXFUL MXSSH N04 N06 N9A NF~ O66 O9- OIG P2P P2W P2Y P4C PQQKQ Q.N Q11 QB0 R.K ROL RX1 SUPJJ TN5 UB1 W8V W99 WBKPD WGLLI WH7 WIH WII WOHZO WQZ WSUWO WXSBR XG1 XSW YNT YQT YZZ ZZTAW ~IA ~WP |
| ID | FETCH-LOGICAL-c192t-a1259c365907a3c73bb684e9cecff1e74d62ac3392e4d459c31bd2e2155e225d3 |
| ISSN | 0026-1068 |
| IngestDate | Thu Aug 07 06:13:14 EDT 2025 |
| IsPeerReviewed | true |
| IsScholarly | true |
| Language | English |
| LinkModel | OpenURL |
| MergedId | FETCHMERGED-LOGICAL-c192t-a1259c365907a3c73bb684e9cecff1e74d62ac3392e4d459c31bd2e2155e225d3 |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8141-6654 |
| ParticipantIDs | crossref_primary_10_1111_meta_70011 |
| PublicationCentury | 2000 |
| PublicationDate | 2025-07-30 |
| PublicationDateYYYYMMDD | 2025-07-30 |
| PublicationDate_xml | – month: 07 year: 2025 text: 2025-07-30 day: 30 |
| PublicationDecade | 2020 |
| PublicationTitle | Metaphilosophy |
| PublicationYear | 2025 |
| References | Douglas James Dixon (e_1_2_6_13_1) 1962 Burggraeve Roger (e_1_2_6_9_1) 2007 Topolski Anya (e_1_2_6_37_1) 2008 Bernasconi Robert Lambert (e_1_2_6_5_1) 2002 Dussel Enrique (e_1_2_6_15_1) 1985 Montes Alexander (e_1_2_6_33_1) 2019; 10 Morkovsky Mary Christine (e_1_2_6_35_1) 1998; 54 Derrida Jacques (e_1_2_6_12_1) 1978 Mkhwanazi Ezekiel (e_1_2_6_32_1) 2013; 14 Blanchot Maurice (e_1_2_6_6_1) 1986 Bernasconi Robert Lambert (e_1_2_6_3_1) 1982; 13 Levinas Emmanuel (e_1_2_6_20_1) 1966; 10 Levy Ze'ev (e_1_2_6_30_1) 1995; 18 Llewelyn John (e_1_2_6_31_1) 2003 Van der Merwe Willie (e_1_2_6_38_1) 2006; 40 Peperzak Adriaan Theodoor (e_1_2_6_36_1) 1993 Burggraeve Roger (e_1_2_6_10_1) 2009 Burggraeve Roger (e_1_2_6_8_1) 1985 Levinas Emmanuel (e_1_2_6_21_1) 1969 Levinas Emmanuel (e_1_2_6_29_1) 2000 Husserl Edmund (e_1_2_6_16_1) 1960 Caputo John D. (e_1_2_6_11_1) 1993 Levinas Emmanuel (e_1_2_6_25_1) 1989 Levinas Emmanuel (e_1_2_6_26_1) 1996 Moran Dermot (e_1_2_6_34_1) 2000 e_1_2_6_7_1 Levinas Emmanuel (e_1_2_6_22_1) 1981 Levinas Emmanuel (e_1_2_6_24_1) 1987 Levinas Emmanuel (e_1_2_6_27_1) 1998 Levinas Emmanuel (e_1_2_6_28_1) 1999 Kant Immanuel (e_1_2_6_18_1) 1997 e_1_2_6_2_1 Bernasconi Robert Lambert (e_1_2_6_4_1) 2019; 24 Kuypers Etienne Laurentius Gertrudis Egbertus (e_1_2_6_19_1) 1998 Drabinski John E. (e_1_2_6_14_1) 2012; 7 Jobling David (e_1_2_6_17_1) 1991; 65 Levinas Emmanuel (e_1_2_6_23_1) 1985 |
| References_xml | – volume-title: The Cambridge Companion to Levinas year: 2002 ident: e_1_2_6_5_1 – volume-title: From Self‐Development to Solidarity: An Ethical Reading of Human Desire in Its Socio‐Political Relevance According to Emmanuel Levinas year: 1985 ident: e_1_2_6_8_1 – volume-title: The Wisdom of Love in the Service of Love: Emmanuel Levinas on Justice, Peace, and Human Rights year: 2007 ident: e_1_2_6_9_1 – volume: 14 start-page: 133 issue: 1 year: 2013 ident: e_1_2_6_32_1 article-title: To Be Human Is to Be Responsible for the Other: A Critical Analysis of Levinas' Conception of ‘Responsibility publication-title: Phronimon – volume-title: Emmanuel Levinas: The Genealogy of Ethics year: 2003 ident: e_1_2_6_31_1 doi: 10.4324/9780203426821 – volume-title: Introduction to Phenomenology year: 2000 ident: e_1_2_6_34_1 – volume-title: To the Other: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas year: 1993 ident: e_1_2_6_36_1 – ident: e_1_2_6_2_1 doi: 10.1177/0191453704042217 – volume-title: Philosophy of Liberation year: 1985 ident: e_1_2_6_15_1 – volume: 7 start-page: 7 issue: 1 year: 2012 ident: e_1_2_6_14_1 article-title: Introduction publication-title: Levinas Studies doi: 10.5840/levinas201271 – volume-title: Against Ethics: Contributions to a Poetics of Obligation with Constant Reference to Deconstruction year: 1993 ident: e_1_2_6_11_1 doi: 10.2307/j.ctv15d7z9r – volume-title: Cartesian Meditations: An Introduction to Phenomenology year: 1960 ident: e_1_2_6_16_1 doi: 10.1007/978-94-017-4952-7 – volume: 10 start-page: 82 issue: 1 year: 2019 ident: e_1_2_6_33_1 article-title: Toward the Name of the Other: A Hildebrandian Approach to Levinasian Alterity publication-title: Quaestiones Disputatae doi: 10.5840/qd201910118 – volume: 18 start-page: 289 year: 1995 ident: e_1_2_6_30_1 article-title: On Emmanuel Levinas's Concepts of 'Trace' and 'Otherness' and Their Relationship to the Thought of Jacques Derrida: A Further Contribution to URAM Levinas Studies (URAM 14: 99–108) publication-title: Ultimate Reality and Meaning doi: 10.3138/uram.18.4.289 – volume: 65 start-page: 405 year: 1991 ident: e_1_2_6_17_1 article-title: Levinas on Desire, Dialogue and the Other publication-title: American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly doi: 10.5840/acpq19916544 – start-page: 87 volume-title: Entre Nous: On Thinking‐of‐the‐Other year: 1998 ident: e_1_2_6_27_1 – volume-title: Otherwise Than Being: Or Beyond Essence year: 1981 ident: e_1_2_6_22_1 – volume: 40 start-page: 1 issue: 1 year: 2006 ident: e_1_2_6_38_1 article-title: The Ethics of Responsibility: The Ethical Philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas publication-title: Acta Academica – volume: 10 start-page: 34 issue: 1 year: 1966 ident: e_1_2_6_20_1 article-title: On the Trail of the Other publication-title: Philosophy Today doi: 10.5840/philtoday19661014 – start-page: 79 volume-title: Basic Philosophical Writings year: 1996 ident: e_1_2_6_26_1 – volume: 54 start-page: 478 issue: 3 year: 1998 ident: e_1_2_6_35_1 article-title: Philosophies of Liberation publication-title: Laval Theologique et Philosophique – volume-title: Ethics and Infinity year: 1985 ident: e_1_2_6_23_1 – start-page: 25 volume-title: Collected Philosophical Papers year: 1987 ident: e_1_2_6_24_1 doi: 10.1007/978-94-009-4364-3_3 – volume-title: The Writing of the Disaster year: 1986 ident: e_1_2_6_6_1 – volume-title: Op weg met Levinas year: 1998 ident: e_1_2_6_19_1 – volume-title: God, Death, and Time year: 2000 ident: e_1_2_6_29_1 doi: 10.1515/9781503618244 – volume: 24 start-page: 88 issue: 3 year: 2019 ident: e_1_2_6_4_1 article-title: The Other Does Not Respond: Levinas's Answer to Blanchot publication-title: Angelaki: Journal of the Theoretical Humanities doi: 10.1080/0969725X.2019.1620459 – volume-title: Totality and Infinity: An Essay on Exteriority year: 1969 ident: e_1_2_6_21_1 – start-page: 57 volume-title: The Awakening to the Other: A Provocative Dialogue with Emmanuel Levinas year: 2008 ident: e_1_2_6_37_1 – start-page: 133 volume-title: Alterity and Transcendence year: 1999 ident: e_1_2_6_28_1 – start-page: 97 volume-title: Writing and Difference year: 1978 ident: e_1_2_6_12_1 – start-page: 75 volume-title: The Levinas Reader year: 1989 ident: e_1_2_6_25_1 – volume: 13 start-page: 267 issue: 3 year: 1982 ident: e_1_2_6_3_1 article-title: Levinas Face to Face—with Hegel publication-title: Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology doi: 10.1080/00071773.1982.11007593 – volume-title: Critique of Pure Reason year: 1997 ident: e_1_2_6_18_1 – volume-title: Each Other's Keeper? Essays on Ethics and the Biblical Wisdom of Love year: 2009 ident: e_1_2_6_10_1 – volume-title: New Bible Dictionary year: 1962 ident: e_1_2_6_13_1 – ident: e_1_2_6_7_1 doi: 10.1080/03080188.2018.1450927 |
| SSID | ssj0000570 |
| Score | 2.3569975 |
| SecondaryResourceType | online_first |
| Snippet | Emmanuel Levinas introduced a radical rethinking of subjectivity that challenges the foundational assumptions of Western philosophy and conventional ethics. He... |
| SourceID | crossref |
| SourceType | Index Database |
| Title | Responsibility toward the “Other”: A critical examination of Levinas's ethical philosophy |
| hasFullText | 1 |
| inHoldings | 1 |
| isFullTextHit | |
| isPrint | |
| link | http://utb.summon.serialssolutions.com/2.0.0/link/0/eLvHCXMwnZ1JS8NAFMcHl0sv4oo7AwoeJCX74q24UMSqSAu9SJmZTE62FZOC9OQH0S_XT-J7mUyTukD1ErInzC-8-WfmLYQcC-jFgiBkBuOmY7h24huRyYUReMLiZmLyWGA0cuvWb3bc667XLes55tElGa-L8Y9xJf-hCvuAK0bJ_oHs9KawA9aBLyyBMCznYvxQdXBFGYkusLmU1D4M53co8PTWhYpDF7q8gXxl6AmjReMNdJIDDPAK0lOJfvAYpaVLHcxM_7Zkxr4cwc-r_6KGU1uj8Zj15dNpc5SmrMjtXQwt2F4-ZmlWzaXtg51WdW_qUllItKxRpOqP_GJ_-_ASdZzQtspeRs-sf-l8pi6B-mcEr-3l1y6SZRu0P5aluHio5ATzAhVXVLxbkXMW3bPK51ZURkUutFfJSqHzaUNBWyMLcrBOavfTNtsgj7P0qKJHgRedvL3n3CZvH2e0QTUvWuFFhwkteJ2ktKBFSyabpHN12T5vGkWxC0OAyM4MBkozEo7vRWbAHBE4nPuhKyMhRZJYMnBj32bCATkr3djFUy0e2xIUmyfBJsfOFlkaDAdym1DMsZZwGXLuCNfnZsiYH8KdmeWFwnL5DjnSjdN7VjlNet-bf3eus_ZIrfxy9slS9jKSByDTMn6YY_sEvdlAkQ |
| linkProvider | Wiley-Blackwell |
| openUrl | ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-8&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fsummon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=Responsibility+toward+the+%E2%80%9COther%E2%80%9D%3A+A+critical+examination+of+Levinas%27s+ethical+philosophy&rft.jtitle=Metaphilosophy&rft.au=Imran%2C+Muzzamel+Hussain&rft.date=2025-07-30&rft.issn=0026-1068&rft.eissn=1467-9973&rft_id=info:doi/10.1111%2Fmeta.70011&rft.externalDBID=n%2Fa&rft.externalDocID=10_1111_meta_70011 |
| thumbnail_l | http://covers-cdn.summon.serialssolutions.com/index.aspx?isbn=/lc.gif&issn=0026-1068&client=summon |
| thumbnail_m | http://covers-cdn.summon.serialssolutions.com/index.aspx?isbn=/mc.gif&issn=0026-1068&client=summon |
| thumbnail_s | http://covers-cdn.summon.serialssolutions.com/index.aspx?isbn=/sc.gif&issn=0026-1068&client=summon |