Sensibility and ethics of responsibility for the other in nursing;Based on E. Levinas's ethics

간호에서의 감성과 타자를 위한 책임의 윤리;레비나스(E. Levinas)의 윤리에 기초하여

Purpose: The purpose of this paper was to inquiry a philosophical foundation for the nursing ethics according to the Levinas' ethics which had emphasis on face to face interpersonal relationship and responsibility for the vulnerable other. Method: First of all, for the foundation of nursing ethics, a understanding of human vulnerability was a starting point; the nurse's bodily sensibility was regarded as a basis for the possibility of the ethical interpersonal relationship. Then, based on Levinas's ethics, it was explained how the moral responsibility for the calling of the suffering other could occur in nursing situation. Result: Nursing implied the altruistic ethical dimension on the subject of the responsibility for the vulnerable other. A nurse as ethical subject in her sensitive passivity is affected by the suffering other and exposed to the other. A nurse herself/himself has to response to the ethical demand of suffering other and to take responsibility for it. After all, based on the Levinas's ethics, the ethical interpersonal relationship could be characterized as the face to face relation, and responsibility for the suffering other. Conclusion: In view of that, his ethical approach could be a proper theory for the explanation of the face to face relationship and altruistic feather of the nursing ethics based human bodily sensibility.