On facing one's students: The relevance of Emmanuel Levinas to teaching in times of Covid-19

Abstract

In this article I show the relevance of Emmanuel Levinas’ notion of primordial teaching for understanding why online teaching cannot adequately mimic face-to-face teaching. I will argue that the current Covid-19 pandemic shows us that being in the immediacy of the embodied presence of one's students is intimately intertwined with being responsive to the needs of students, which highlights that teaching is not only the transmission of intellectual knowledge and skills but first and foremost an ethical attunement to the suffering of the Other. Levinas argues that teaching is in its essence a relation between unique individuals; a uniqueness that originates in the individual's unconditional responsibility to each and every other human being. This unconditional responsibility is for Levinas the non-mediated embodied sensitivity to the needs of the Other; an openness that precedes freedom and the conscious choice of a person. In this article I claim this embodied sensitivity is jeopardised in online education, which makes it harder for the teacher to attune to the needs of every student. The risk we run is that the face of the Other remains ‘plastic’, which makes it more difficult for the teacher to attune to the specific needs of students. I will argue that online teaching should not only concentrate on enabling the transmission of knowledge but should also invest in creating an environment of intimacy that enables responsiveness and genuine contact.