Abstract

My dissertation, "Apparitions---Of the Other in Contemporary French Philosophy," examines how a number of French thinkers have taken up and transformed the understanding of "the other [l'autre ]" and "the relationship to the other" inherited from the phenomenological tradition. Through an examination of the notion of "the neutral" and its relation to Hegelian dialectics and difference in the works of Derrida, Levinas, Blanchot, and others, I argue that the other first appears to us as a "neutral figure." This "neutral" figure, which is not an object of immediate intuition or originary perception, and which eludes all determination and classification, at first suspends the moment of judgment and decision regarding its identity. Further, I show that this suspension is occasioned by "the gaze or look of the other." This look, which I am never able to return or master, and which obligates me and makes me wholly responsible, functions as the source of all responsibility to the other. In addition to asking "Who or what is the other?" my dissertation poses the question: "How does the other come to us or appear to us?" I demonstrate that the coming or the appearance of the other requires an analysis of phenomenality and visibility, and necessitates a thorough reevaluation of what has been understood as the "image."