我是做给他人的符号:列维纳斯哲学中的伦理与符号

I Make of Myself as a Sign Given to the Other:Ethics and Sign in Levinasian Philosophy

列维纳斯认为,我之所以需要对他人做出应承,是因为我在其中发现自己的基本处境。这一处境是伦理的,不可被还原为一种派生关系。做出应承意味着说,亦即向他人说话。说必有所说。所说传达信息给他人。我可以躲在自己的所说之中,而仅仅给出一些符号(词语)。然而,只要我向他人说话,无论我说什么,我都已经在将自己暴露给他人。我之说本身就是对他人的应承。通过我之说,而不是通过我之任何所说,我将自身做成一个给予他人的符号,一个表示着这一给予本身的符号。这一符号向他人表示着“在这儿呢,我,请您吩咐吧!”换言之,这一符号向他人表示着,我是为了你的,或我是为你而是的,是为你服务的。列维纳斯就在此中看到了作为例外的主体性,那打乱存在秩序的主体性,或人的神圣性。

“I am responsible to the other”, as proposed by Levinas, is a fundamental situation in which I find myself. This situation is ethical and not reducible to a secondary relationship. To be responsible means to speak to the other or “saying”. A saying says something, or has a “said The said conveys a message to the other. I may well hide in what I say, in the said, and give out only some signs (words). However, as long as I speak to the other, regardless of what I say, I always expose myself to the other. My saying itself is my responsibility to the other. Through the saying rather than anything I say, I turn myself into a sign given to the other, a sign signifying this giving of the sign. This sign signifies to the other “here I am”(me voici) and “please send me”. In other words, the sign signifies to the other that I am for you, that my very being is just this “for you”, and that I am at your service or your disposal. In this, Levinas recognises subjectivity as an exception to the order of being or the holiness of the human being.