Space and Ethics

Space has traditionally been classified as a 'theoretical' problem, i. e. a topic of Epistemology, Physics, Mathematics, etc. Here, in contrast, because Space constitutes the structure of how one comports oneself towards, i. e. how one extends oneself towards others, it is a practical one, as well. The potential recognition of the significance of Space to Ethics can be found in Levinas' thesis that Exteriority is the medium of Ethics. However, for him, Ethics remains a passive experience, which precludes the possibility of his further consideration that active self-exteriorization, and, hence, Spatialization, is the originary locus of Ethics. But, it is not primarily because of the idiosyncrasy of such a concept of Space that its implication in Ethics is heterodoxical. Rather, what is more immediately heterodoxical is the thesis that Action itself, not its preconditions nor its consequences, its the fundamental locus of Ethics, i. e. that the actual performance of an action, and not its intention nor its effects, is the bearer of Ethical value. Thus, insofar as Space as defined in terms of Action, the heterodoxy of its implication in Ethics is, similarly, a derivative one.