“Care” and Levinas' theory of the other

on the euthanasia issue

Abstract

In Europe and America, active euthanasia or doctor-assisted suicide is beginning to be admitted socially, and is partly legalized. Moreover in the field of thought, a theory of nursing ethics that affirms euthanasia has appeared under the aegis of the “ethics of care”. It is the purpose of this paper to explore the possibility of arguing against euthanasia, however tentatively, from the closely cooperative concepts of the “face”, “death”, and “language” which are important aspects of Levinas' ethics.
We find one of the possibilities of evasion of the euthanasia to the following arguments of Levinas.
In Levinas, that the other's “face” is nakedness and is exposed means that the other is exposed to death, and that it is certain the other will die. Moreover, the “non-intentional” nature of death is essential to the other's conceptual formation, and has structured the encounter of self with the others. According to the ethics of the “face” by Levinas, it is necessary to respond to the death to which the other's “face” is exposed, or, to respond to the urgency of this fact that the “face” is exposed to death.
Furthermore, the command of a “face”--“Thou shalt not kill”-is sounds continually as a sub-message in all “listening”. So “listening”, above all things, is premised on not killing.