Elements of a Dialectics of Sensitivity

Abstract

The other cannot be reduced to an object. Thus in order to be capable of meeting and taking into account the other, our consciousness must modify its traditional way of functioning. It no longer has to relate as a whole to an object; in other words, it no longer corresponds to the totality of the relation of an I, or a self, to an object, notably because it does not know such a totality. For this totality to come to appear as the one it is, the subject must have a relationship with a subject different from the one who he or she is by nature. In order that such a relationship should occur without losing one’s self, this, from the very beginning, must be subjected to a negation—the frame which makes possible to meet the other as other is: I am not you. Subjecting our own being to a negation gives rise to the mood which enables us to deal with alterity. The absolute, then, is no longer merely intuited or projected, it is recognized as the reality to which it corresponds. Such a recognition allows me to aim at the absolute that I am without this absolute being for all that the absolute of the absolute. The other corresponds with an absolute too, on the condition that he or she takes on the non-being that they are. Taking on such a negative, or a negation, allows a becoming other to oneself which is not mistaken for becoming the other. A structure exists which permits us both to relate to the other and to return to ourselves. Hence, I know the experience of the absolute from the very beginning, and relating to and with the other will allow me to cultivate this experience while preserving an absolute founded in nature.