The Other as Deconstructive Phenomenon: Understanding Levinas' Hyperbolic Descriptions in Autrement qu’être ou au-delà de l’essence Patrick Juskevicius A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master’s degree in Arts Department of Philosophy Faculty of Arts University of Ottawa © Patrick Juskevicius, Ottawa, Canada, 2018 Juskevicius | ii Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................................ iv Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................................. v Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 1 The Itinerary ...................................................................................................................................... 5 1 The Problem ....................................................................................................................................... 9 1.0 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 9 1.1 Levinas and the Use of Hyperbole ............................................................................................ 9 1.2 Levinas’ Description/Argument .............................................................................................. 12 1.3 The Problem of the Possibility of Hyperbolic Description .................................................... 16 1.3.1 Criticism of Positive Hyperbole – Possibility .................................................................. 16 1.3.2 Criticism of Negative Hyperbole – Possibility ................................................................ 19 1.4 The Problem of the Plausibility of Hyperbolic Description .................................................. 23 1.4.1 Criticism of Positive Hyperbole – Plausibility ................................................................ 23 1.4.2 Criticism of Negative Hyperbole – Plausibility ............................................................... 26 1.5 The Solution: Hyperbole as Deconstructive ........................................................................... 31 1.5.1 Understanding Hyperbole not as Description but as Deconstruction ............................. 31 1.5.2 Response: Hyperbole as the Distance between Construction and Deconstruction ....... 32 1.6 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 37 2 Levinas’ Descriptions ...................................................................................................................... 38 2.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 38 2.1 Non-Hyperbolic Descriptions: the Subject without the Other ............................................... 38 2.1.1 Language, Time, Consciousness ....................................................................................... 39 2.1.2 The Temporalization of the Subject: Ageing ................................................................... 47 2.1.3 The Vulnerable Subject ..................................................................................................... 50 2.2 Hyperbolic Descriptions: the Other and Subjectivity............................................................. 56 2.2.1 By-the-Other: Proximity ................................................................................................... 57 2.2.2 For-the-Other: the Ethical Self.......................................................................................... 63 2.3 Levinas’ Answer to Hyperbole: the Third .............................................................................. 70 2.4 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 75 3 The Possibility of Levinas’ Descriptions ....................................................................................... 78 3.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 78 Juskevicius | iii 3.1 Theoretical Concerns ................................................................................................................ 78 3.2 Prospective Responsibility ....................................................................................................... 81 3.2.1 First Precondition of Prospective Responsibility: Grounds of Responsibility .............. 83 3.2.2 Second Precondition of Prospective Responsibility: How to be Responsible ............... 87 3.2.3 Summary of Prospective Responsibility .......................................................................... 96 3.3 Retrospective Responsibility ................................................................................................... 99 3.3.1 The Other in Everyday Immediacy ................................................................................ 100 3.3.2 The Other in Exceptional Immediacy............................................................................. 105 3.4 The Complete Description ..................................................................................................... 110 3.4.1 The Awoken Subject ....................................................................................................... 110 3.4.2 A Newly Revealed Prospective Duty, or Ex Post Facto Praxis .................................... 113 3.5 Answering the Question of the Possibility of Positive Hyperbole ...................................... 117 3.6 Answering the Question of the Possibility of Negative Hyperbole .................................... 121 3.7 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 124 4 The Plausibility of Levinas’ Descriptions .................................................................................... 127 4.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 127 4.1 Answering the Question of the Plausibility of Positive Hyperbole ..................................... 127 4.2 Answering the Question of the Plausibility of Negative Hyperbole ................................... 135 4.3 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 144 Conclusion......................................................................................................................................... 146 Bibliography...................................................................................................................................... 150 Works Cited................................................................................................................................... 150 Works by Emmanuel Levinas .................................................................................................. 150 Other Primary Sources .............................................................................................................. 150 Secondary Sources .................................................................................................................... 150 Works Consulted ........................................................................................................................... 153 Juskevicius | iv Abstract This monograph addresses the problem of Emmanuel Levinas’ hyperbole in his work Autrement qu’être ou au-delà de l’essence. In this text, he claims to provide a phenomenological description of the encounter the Other, yet his descriptions are deliberately hyperbolic and therefore do not seem to actually be descriptive at all. To address this problem, I propose that we can understand his hyperbole as descriptive if we understand that the subject’s encounter with the Other is a deconstructive experience. Deconstruction, which consists of both the faithful reading of a situation and the determinate destabilization of that reading, aligns with Levinas’ claim that the Other overthrows consciousness, but further explains why such an overthrow is only rarely felt in ordinary experience. Understanding the hyperbole as descriptively accurate while rarely felt will then offer a positive obligation for the subject in respect of being responsible for the Other. Cette monographie aborde le problème de l’hyperbole de Emmanuel Levinas dans son œuvre, Autrement qu’être ou au-delà de l’essence. Dans ce texte, il prétend fournir une description phénoménologique de la rencontre de l’Autrui, pourtant ses descriptions sont délibérément hyperboliques et ne semblent donc pas du tout être descriptives du tout. Pour aborder ce problème, je propose que nous puissions comprendre son hyperbole comme descriptive si nous comprenons que la rencontre du sujet avec l’Autrui est une expérience déconstructive. La déconstruction, qui comprend à la fois la lecture fidèle d’une situation et la déstabilisation déterminée de cette lecture, s’accorde avec l’affirmation de Levinas que l’Autrui renverse la conscience, mais explique