# The Other
- URL: https://www.petrikajander.com/the-other/
- Author: Petri Kajander
- Date: 2004-09-18
- Language: en

How can we learn about ourselves? By facing the Other.

Some time ago, I wrote about [relationships](/relationship/ "Relationship") and referred to Martin Buber. [Emmanuel Levinas](http://www.mythosandlogos.com/Levinas.html "Emmanuel Levinas") was inspired by the work of Buber and became one of the greatest French philosophers of the twentieth century. Levinas pointed out that we can only learn about ourselves by facing other beings that are not us (the Other). We cannot share our existence—we can only talk about it. And it is the human interaction that makes the learning possible. We have to meet the Other, face to face.

In [*Humanism of the Other*](http://www.press.uillinois.edu/f03/levinas.html "Humanism of the Other"), Levinas raised ethics to a higher level than just a discussion of pure ontology and knowledge about being.

[*Totality and Infinity*](http://www.amazon.com/Totality-Infinity-Essay-Exteriority-Philosophical/dp/0820702455 "Totality and Infinity") describes the difference between the infinity and the self. It explains how we can be the self, the subject, that seems to be separated from the infinity. Levinas clarified the reason for the subjectivity and the illusion of separation from the Other and the infinity.

The purpose of subjectivity is to teach us about the unity but one can learn about it only by being separated and being in relation to other beings. And this lesson seems to be so hard for us. We regard ourselves as special and unique. We are not like the others. But the bottom line is that we are all the same—part of the infinity and the unity. Our perceived separation is an illusion that temporarily hides us from the truth. And this lesson seems to take ages for us. Individualism and selfishness are the popular themes of our time. Still, deep inside we feel and know that all life is equal—part of the same, the one.