To be human is to be responsible for the Other: a critical analysis of Levinas' conception of "responsibility"

The history of Western Philosophy, especially in continental Europe, has always revolved around the following "metaphysical triangle": World (cosmology); Self (anthropology) and Deity (theology). Since Rene Descartes, there has been a shift of paradigm, from the cosmological and theological angles to the anthropological angle wherein the human subject had become the axis on which everything hinges. Emmanuel Levinas gave subjectivity a radical turn. For him, traditional ethics and philosophy are grounded in egoism and the neglect for the "Other" as they overemphasise self-fulfilment and self-development. They overlook human solidarity and cooperation. In this paper I discuss critically Levinas' argument that subjectivity is born out of our relations with the Other and that our responsibility for them defines its fundamental structure and is the foundation upon which all other social structures and formations rest.