From Existence To The Other: The Metaphysics Transition Of Levinas' Ethics

The ethics of Levinas is closely related to his own experiences. After the second world, he starts introspecting the source of this kind of violent and criticizing the ontology of western tradition philosophy in the end. However, ontology is not the original shape of western philosophy. As we are known, Philosophy is first namely"metaphysics", which experienced from the arche-metaphysics to the present-metaphysics, and made philosophy end to equal the ontology in this process of deterioration.Ontology is the power philosophy of knowledge theory and solipsism, it presents the total violent, all of"the other"are identified and accepted by"I". Then, in the knowing area, a big"I"exists forever, in human relations,"the other"is always absent. So, the ethics relation will not be established. Withal, Levinas tries to construct a new metaphysics to resist the total violent of the ontology. As a direct result, the groundwork of the western tradition philosophy--ontology goes to pieces. It turns round the knowledge theory problem of"how I arrive the truth"to the ethics problem of"I have the desire of infinite'the other'". Finally, ethics gets the metaphysics transition, and mixes the truth with justice.In this construction,"absolute the other"is delivered from the cage of"I". Under the guise of"God", Levinas establishes the sanctity of the"absolute the other"in ethics and points this sanctity to"the other"in earthly life via God's"trace". After that, he insures others at morally superiority by the infinite of"face". Hence, from the"face"of others, what"I"read is the request and the order that I have to listen to the other; in succession, Levinas reconstructs a new subject"I"of"for the other"from"saying", and turns"I have to obey others"to"I offer to be assigned".Thus, the construction of Levinas'whole ethics of"for the other"is completed.