Intersubjectivity, Illeity, and Being-in-Love: Lonergan and Levinas on Self-Transcendence

What is it about?

This paper uses the work of Bernard Lonergan and Emmanuel Levinas to argue that the entire process of self-transcendence culminates in love. While Levinas’ work differs drastically from Lonergan’s in a number of respects, their shared interest in intersubjectivity and emphasis on the importance of ethical relationality provide useful starting points for developing an expanded approach to the intersubjective and the intentionally relational. In order to explore this possibility, I outline Lonergan’s general position on the self-transcending subject, especially as intersubjectivity relates to self-transcendence. Next, I provide a brief overview of Levinas’ own positions on relationality and responsibility, as well as the ways these positions might enrich and advance Lonergan’s discussion of the intersubjective. Having done so, I turn to Lonergan’s descriptions of the peak of the relational: the dynamic state of being-in-love. I then suggest how Levinas’ understanding of illeity and the trace of the infinite might help develop the link between intersubjectivity and self-transcendence’s interpersonal culmination.

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