Responsibility and vulnerability: The resources of Emmanuel Levinas' thought for the ethics of care

Abstract

The aim of this article is to show the centrality of Levinasian idea of vulnerability and responsibility for the ethics of care and medical ethics. After an initial analysis of the main aspects of the ethics of the face, I propose to draw from Levinas' thought together with Ricoeur's conception of practical wisdom. This proposal opens up a space for the caregiver to listen and pay attention to the singularity of the vulnerability and suffering of the patient, while integrating the caregiver's approach within the social and institutional norms that characterize it. This approach paves the way for a renewed understanding of the clinic based on an ethics of hospitality and responsiveness, which allows for a revitalization of the links between ethics and medicine.