The Beauty of the Other

by Rimina Patolot

15 January 2013
Discussed Text: Levinas, "Secrecy and Freedom," Ethics and Infinity


In our last lecture, Levinas tried to show, through Descartes’ philosophy, the Face of the Other. There are certain insights in Descartes’ third meditation, Totality and Infinity, which can also do justice to the Other that Levinas has presented. This topic was very hard to digest for me as Levinas tried to show a structure of the idea of the Infinite – which involved thinking beyond thinking. And in this idea of the Infinite, we are be able to experience the Other as Face.

As Levinas goes back to Descartes’ philosophy, we recall the point where Descartes doubts everything, and is then left with just ideas in his mind. He then classifies the ideas left in his mind and comes with the idea of himself, on other persons, animals, and God – the Infinite. But then, where did these ideas come from? Either they came from him, or these ideas were put into him. Descartes then says that the idea of God is an infinite substance, eternal, immutable, independent, omniscient, omnipotent – an idea which is also found in traditional philosophy or metaphysics. However, he is interested in the structure, not in proving the existence of God. He goes on to point out that there are certain ideas in us which cannot be contained within ourselves. Thus, this idea which overflows may have been put into us, and not from us. Because, as Dr. Garcia has said, “How can a finite substance be the origin of an infinite substance? How can I contain something which I cannot contain? If the cause is finite, the effect cannot be infinite. The effect cannot be greater than the cause.”

From what we have learned last semester, Descartes says that an idea is true if it is clear and distinct. And this idea of the Infinite is very clear and distinct. He realizes this reality goes beyond our understanding – exactly why it is difficult for us to comprehend. And as God goes beyond our comprehension, we think more than what we can think when we think of Him. We can think about Him, but we don’t really know Him. Because a God that can be comprehended, cannot be a God. Descartes then ends his third meditation, in admiration and gratitude of this all perfect God.

I admit that I was perplexed by how Descartes illustrated the idea of the Infinite at first. I cannot even fully grasp it until now, so I'm trying to be careful in conveying my ideas about what I have understood from the lecture. But then, I realized that that was the point. To think beyond your thinking. To know that you don’t know. To understand that you can’t understand. This process of us trying to figure it out is part of the experience, because this reality can neither stand on mere reasons nor understanding. And in the end, this kind of thinking will make us admire this reality, and even be grateful for it.

So why did Levinas try to show this particular structure in Descartes' philosophy? Instead of saying that the idea of the Infinite is found in God, he said that it is in the Other - the Human Other, as philosophy has human experience as its basis. Thinking about the Other escapes the grasp of the "I." And from this, I realized that we do experience the Face of the Other as Infinite in our everyday lives. When we communicate with each other, we discover things that are beyond what we think. That's why it feels great to get to know someone you just met, and listening to other people's interests and experiences - we realize that there's something so much more than just the things in your mind. And from this, we become more thankful for such experiences because we are able to go beyond our thinking through the experience of the Other.

In line with the experience of the Other as Face, I'd like to share this "Youtube movie" with you, because I have personally experienced the Other in a very beautiful way through this 90-minute video. I have already watched this before, but watching it after our lecture, I came to appreciate it in a whole new way. Assembled by Kevin McDonald, "Life in a Day" is a compilation of videos uploaded by different users from all over the world, showing what it was like in a single day of their lives on a normal day, July 24, 2010. I was very emotionally involved with some of the stories, and I had many realizations upon watching it. I opted not to give an overview of the video, nor what my realizations were, as I want you to experience it first-hand. I hope that you find the beauty of the Face of the Other through this video - the beauty of the Other that escapes our grasps. And that even in this brief experience of the Other, we experience the Infinite.