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Full Idea
Levinas forwarded a notion of 'ethics as first philosophy' that begins from the concete exposure and openness to 'the face' of the other, an experience of vulnerability and suffering that undercuts our ordinary egoistic and objectifying tendencies.
Gist of Idea
Levinas took 'first philosophy' to begin with seeing the vulnerable faces of others
Source
report of Emmanuel Levinas (works [1956]) by Kevin Aho - Existentialism: an introduction 1 'Existentialism'
Book Ref
Aho,Kevin: 'Existentialism: an introduction' [Polity 2014], p.14
A Reaction
Iris Murdoch speaks of seeing a falcon in flight as having a similar effect of diminishing the ego. If the main focus is on potential 'suffering' does this eventually cash out as utilitarianism? I bet not!
Related Ideas
Idea 549 All philosophy begins from wonder, either at the physical world, or at ideas [Aristotle]
Idea 20742 The real subject is ethical, not cognitive [Kierkegaard]
168 | To understand morality requires a soul [Plato] |
5026 | Animals lack morality because they lack self-reflection [Leibniz] |
3954 | Immorality is not in the action, but in the deviation of the will from moral law [Berkeley] |
5599 | Without God, creation and free will, morality would be empty [Kant] |
21415 | Duty is impossible without prior moral feeling, conscience, love and self-respect [Kant] |
2902 | Healthy morality is dominated by an instinct for life [Nietzsche] |
20739 | Levinas took 'first philosophy' to begin with seeing the vulnerable faces of others [Levinas, by Aho] |
6450 | Morality must be motivating, and not because of pre-moral motives [Nagel] |
4284 | All moral life depends ultimately on piety, which is our recognition of our own dependence [Scruton] |