How Emmanuel Levinas Describes "The Good"

Levinas' view on the good and ethics as a whole was centered around three main points: He believed that each person is a unique expression of God, the face of the "other" calls you to responsibility, and that goodness is infinite.

The entirety of all his philosophical points are considered ethical. Just like the other three philosophers, he generally aimed to search for the good. Levinas believed that God left "traces" of himself as a sort of revelation in things and other people. He thought that we didn't encounter God anywhere, we just found traces that would let us know that God had been there, but no longer was.

The center of Levinas' ethics was the fact that his views were relational.  He genuinely approved of thinking that the human face is what turns to "me" and looks at me. He believed that the face is the most naked part of the body. This lead to him disapproving of makeup since in his opinion, it was a sort of attempt to hide your face. Therefore, he concluded that the eyes could never be made up. The eyes would penetrate every mask, and with our eyes, and into the other's eyes, we would make direct contact.

An experience like looking into another's eyes could only be called a "thrill of astonishment". It is the most original moment of meaning, because in the eyes of another you meet a total stranger. This stranger is what he/we would call the "other".

In this person's solid look, the Other calls you not to reduce their face to being the same as any other face around. He thinks this goes along with the "You shall not Murder" commandment, as he considers the face a sign of authority.

The face of the other is only powerful and superior because it comes from elsewhere: This Other is a completely and total stranger, who is defenseless. The stranger is one whose very existence is threatened. It is at this point that he thinks the face becomes ethical. Mostly because the Other's depth of misery is what makes the command or appeal of the face ethical. The face clearly demands that you recognize it and that you provide it with help.

The face could be anyone, like a beggar with a bent head. This is how the face would make you responsible, he thinks. The face would reveal that you are self-centered and concerned only of your own matters. This face would make you responsible.