Dimensi Keberadaan ODGJ dalam Perspektif Metafisika Emmanuel Levinas: Wajah yang Menuntut Tanggung Jawab

Abstract

People with Mental Disorders (PwMD) are often placed in a marginal position within society, reduced to mere medical or social objects, and viewed ontologically as “imperfect beings”. This article seeks to interpret the existence of PwMD through Emmanuel Levinas’s metaphysical perspective, which emphasizes ethical relations with the Other. In Levinas’s thought, metaphysics is not merely the study of being, but a genuine encounter with the face of the Other that reveals unconditional responsibility. Through this framework, PwMD are understood not as passive objects, but as subjects who call forth ethical responsibility. The face of PwMD, although often veiled by stigma and alienation, still presents a demand to respect their dignity and existence. This study employs a qualitative method through a literature-based analysis of various sources related to Levinas’s metaphysics, ethics, and social studies on PwMD. The analysis is conducted conceptually to interpret Levinas’s ideas on the face and responsibility and then apply them to the existential reality of PwMD. The philosophical hypothesis proposed in this study is that the existence of PwMD, when read through Levinas’s metaphysics, reveals the deepest ethical dimension of human existence itself, namely the call to responsibility toward the Other as the true foundation of metaphysics. Thus, the existence of PwMD is not merely a medical or social issue, but also a metaphysical reminder of the ethical relationship that precedes all forms of human knowledge and power.