["< sod > the [ [ psychoanalysis | psychoanalyst ] ] [ [ jacques francois lacan ] ] ( 1901 – october 1981 ) and the philosopher [ [ emmanuel levinas ] ] ( 1906 – 1995 ) established the contemporary definitions, usages, and applications of the other, as the radical counterpart of the self. lacan associated the other with [ [ the symbolic | the symbolic order ] ] and language. in'' the infinite... other'', levinas associated the other with the supernatural deity of [ [ scripture ] ] and [ [ tradition ] ], thus, ethically, the other is itself superior and prior - to the self. moreover, the concept of the [ [ face - to - face ] ] encounter ( wherein a person is responsible to the other person ) was re - formulated to assume the propositions of [ [ jacques derrida ] ] ( 1930 – 2004 ) about the metaphysical impossibility of the other being a [ [ metaphysics of presence | metaphysical pure - presence ] ], that the other could be an entity of pure [ [ alterity ] ] ( otherness ) from which arises the matter of the the [ [ representation ( arts ) | representation ] ] of an other human being, by way of language. the conceptual re - conceptual formulating of the nature of the other included levinas ’ s analysis of the distinction between “ [ [ the saying tree and the said ] ] ”, whilst retaining the priority of [ [ ethics ] ] over [ [ metaphysics ] ]. < eod > < sod > the [ [ psychoanalysis | psychoanalyst ] ] [ [ jacques lacan ] ] ( 1901 – 1981 ) and the ethical philosopher [ [ emmanuel levinas ] ] ( 1906 – 1995 ) established the contemporary definitions, usages, and applications of the supreme other, as the radical counterpart of the self. lacan associated the other with language and with [ [ the symbolic | the symbolic order ] ] of things. levinas associated the other with the ethical metaphysics of the supernatural sacred deity of [ [ scripture ] ] and [ [ tradition ] ] ; the ethical proposition is that the other is superior and prior to the self. < eod >"]