Roger Burggraeve

Addressing human beings by their proper name expresses the ethical acknowledgment of the other as a unique 'you.' This transcends the 'knowing' of the other-knowing, which, based on perception, is so central to Greek thought. In contrast, in Hebrew thought a shift occurs from seeing to listening and thus it focuses on the direct relationship with the other-face-to-face-as invocation and response. Humans are 'responsible' beings, literally 'answerable-by-and-for-the- other,' according to Emmanuel Levinas. This leads to a reformulation of the Cartesian "cogito, ergo sum" into "respondeo, ergo sum." As 'human condition' this responsibility implies the ethical call to acknowledge and affirm the other as a unique person, always and everywhere. We can also call it a right, even a fundamental right, in the sense that the direct interpersonal relationship ('face-to- face') forms the basis and modality of all humanity, and therefore of all education and counseling, all care, all sociality, economy, and politics. Artificial intelligence and robotization cannot, or rather, should never, replace direct face-to-face interaction, even though they can certainly be useful tools (and remain tools, subject to face-to-face interaction). The use of personal names expresses direct face-to-face interaction in a special, even essential, way, even though proper names can be misused to label, exclude, or persecute others. For privacy and security reasons, it may be necessary to 'anonymize' people, but this should never prevent people from addressing and acknowledging the other as a unique person! Hence the great responsibility when people give their children a (worthy, not crazy) name, precisely so as not to compromise the dignity of the other.