The decision for the word: Buber, Marcel and Lévinas

At first sight, the philosophy of dialogue appears to propose an ethics which is shared by all the thinkers of this tradition, with certain words being decisive for precisely understanding the exact ground in which this ethics is developed. In a certain sense this is true: there is no doubt that there exists a group of common words which are in shared use by the di¬verse exponents of the philosophy of dialogue –I, thou, dialogue, rap¬port, relation, responsibility, the other, ethics. However, upon looking more closely two things immediately become obvious. First of all, each of the philosophers of dialogue emphasizes a particular word amongst those he shares with the others. In the begin¬ning, at least, Martin Buber highlighted “relation” as both the primary word and as providing a reciprocal rapport between “I” and “Thou”. Gabriel Marcel, conversely, brings mystery, the body and the other to the forefront. Lévinas emphasizes how responsibility for the other is recog¬nized. None of these words are rejected or placed on a secondary level, even though, for each individual exponent of the philosophy of dialogue, their particular privileged word gradually develops into a kind of quasi-religious icon which is able, just like a sacred image, to draw the gaze and inspire reflection.