The Look and the Face: Comparison of phenomenological approaches to encountering the other and its ethical consequences in the works of Sartre and Lévinas
Abstract
Main goal of this paper is to address the issue of encountering the other in the works of two famous French phenomenologists - Jean-Paul Sartre and Emmanuel Levinas, both of which are generally acclaimed for being among the first philosophers who introduced and propagated Husserlian Phenomenology in France. The principal aim of this article is to highlight and contrast their positions by means of exploring core phenomena which they use to describe the encounter with the other.
On the side of Sartre I will focus on his notion called the Look (le regard) while on the side of Levinas I will draw from his analysis of the Face (le visage). Even though their stances on the issues of emergence and subsequent meaning of other human being are wildly considered to be if not straight opposite than at least radically different, I will argue that they might have much more in common than how it is generally perceived.