Abstract

This essay deals with four related topics: ethics, the human face, computer communication, and the public sphere of cyberspace. Relating these topics allows us to explore the existential character of this 'virtual' dwelling place (ethos). Emmanuel Levinas's phenomenology of the face provides the philosophical and ethical underpinnings of the essay. A case study of a university's web presence is offered to demonstrate both the strengths and limitations of Levinas's approach. Much is made of how the 'face work' that goes on in cyberspace defines an effort in rhetorical eloquence. The faces created by such eloquence may not be as awe-inspiring as their 'in the flesh' counterparts, but they still have something 'holy' to offer: a trace of alterity, of a fundamental difference whose publicness is never without a private dimension lying forever beyond our grasp.