ABSTRACT
In the preceding chapter, I argued that dwelling describes a primary sociality of subjective identity. We saw that in his account of the dwelling, Levinas relies on the difference between the sexes, where the feminine is considered as a dimension of subjective being. He argues that the feminine has a “categorial signification” and is not to be thought in terms of biological or sociologically determined categories (DF 22-23).1 Yet, for Levinas, the feminine other encountered in dwelling is not Autrui-the Other who questions my right to be and in doing so introduces the ethical dimension into being. What leads him to make such a distinction between the feminine other and Autrui?
