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The First Person Singular
Alphonso Lingis’s singular works of philosophy are not so much written as performed, and in The First Person Singular the performance is characteristically brilliant, a consummate act of philosophical reckoning. Lingis’s subject here, aptly enough, is the subject itself, understood not as consciousness but as embodied, impassioned, active being. His book is, at the same time, an elegant cultural analysis of how subjectivity is differently and collectively understood, invested, and situated.
The subject Lingis elaborates in detail is the passionate subject of fantasy, of obsessive commitment, of noble actions, the subject enacting itself through an engagement with others, including animals and natural forces. This is not the linguistic or literary subject posited by structuralism and post-structuralism, nor the rational consciousness posited by post-Enlightenment philosophy. It is rather a being embodied in both a passionate, intensifying activity and a cultural collective made up of embodied others as well as the social rituals and practices that comprise this first person singular.
The subject Lingis elaborates in detail is the passionate subject of fantasy, of obsessive commitment, of noble actions, the subject enacting itself through an engagement with others, including animals and natural forces. This is not the linguistic or literary subject posited by structuralism and post-structuralism, nor the rational consciousness posited by post-Enlightenment philosophy. It is rather a being embodied in both a passionate, intensifying activity and a cultural collective made up of embodied others as well as the social rituals and practices that comprise this first person singular.
- GenresPhilosophy
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
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99 people want to read
About the author
Alphonso Lingis
42 books58 followersAlphonso Lingis was an American philosopher, writer and translator, with Lithuanian roots, professor emeritus of philosophy at Pennsylvania State University. His areas of specialization included phenomenology, existentialism, and ethics. Lingis is also known as a photographer, and he complements the philosophical themes of many of his books with his own photography.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 17, 2025
For a long time now, Alphonso Lingis has been well aware of the incantatory power of the word; its ability not simply to describe, map out, or allude to things, but to bring into being entirely novel states of affairs - to affirm, sustain and enchant the fleshy beings that utter them, along with the shimmering air through which they resound and are suspended. In The First Person Singular, Lingis turns his own magical words to - among other things - a phenomenology of honor; the ways in which the affirmations we make of ourselves bind us to ourselves, implicate us in our own futures. ‘To thine own self be true’ runs the Shakespearean adage, and it is to just these experiences of this self, honor-bound by its own utterances, that Lingis details in scrupulous, wandering and beautiful prose.
Central here is Lingis’s concern - inspired by those like Friedrich Nietzsche, Emmanuel Levinas and Gilles Deleuze - to affirm the superabundant vitality of being; the idea that, unlike philsophies which see desire and fantasy driven by a lack or negativity in ourselves to which we are compelled to overcome, the self is instead an overflowing reservoir of energy, itching to expend and intensify its own capacities for being. Existence is not driven by a promise of happiness which we pursue unceasingly, but is itself something which is enjoyed on its own terms; we are ‘buoyed up’ - to use one of Lingis's favourite terms - by the elements into which we are immersed, exalted by the sheer fact of being, riven by the here and now which we traverse, and in turn, traverses us.
Although Lingis writes from a theoretical background heavily indebted to continental phenomenology - Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and the aforementioned Emmanuel Levinas loom large as shadows in the book - Lingis himself is far more of a practitioner of phenomenological artistry then a concept-monger. Moments of laughter, grief, cursing and sighs are what Lingis attends to, their very descriptions wielded in order to make philosophical points, rather than soldered on to some higher-order abstract theoretical machinery. It’s the work of a master thinker at play, utterly confident in his own ability, attuned to the sensual rhythms that quiver beneath the abstractions so often associated with the traditions from which it comes. A colleague of mine, intrigued by the striking full color photo of a Wodaabe tribesman on the book cover, remarked upon a quick reading, “this guy is completely in tune with the universe, isn’t he?”. It’d be hard to disagree.
Central here is Lingis’s concern - inspired by those like Friedrich Nietzsche, Emmanuel Levinas and Gilles Deleuze - to affirm the superabundant vitality of being; the idea that, unlike philsophies which see desire and fantasy driven by a lack or negativity in ourselves to which we are compelled to overcome, the self is instead an overflowing reservoir of energy, itching to expend and intensify its own capacities for being. Existence is not driven by a promise of happiness which we pursue unceasingly, but is itself something which is enjoyed on its own terms; we are ‘buoyed up’ - to use one of Lingis's favourite terms - by the elements into which we are immersed, exalted by the sheer fact of being, riven by the here and now which we traverse, and in turn, traverses us.
Although Lingis writes from a theoretical background heavily indebted to continental phenomenology - Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and the aforementioned Emmanuel Levinas loom large as shadows in the book - Lingis himself is far more of a practitioner of phenomenological artistry then a concept-monger. Moments of laughter, grief, cursing and sighs are what Lingis attends to, their very descriptions wielded in order to make philosophical points, rather than soldered on to some higher-order abstract theoretical machinery. It’s the work of a master thinker at play, utterly confident in his own ability, attuned to the sensual rhythms that quiver beneath the abstractions so often associated with the traditions from which it comes. A colleague of mine, intrigued by the striking full color photo of a Wodaabe tribesman on the book cover, remarked upon a quick reading, “this guy is completely in tune with the universe, isn’t he?”. It’d be hard to disagree.
May 9, 2024
The First Person Singular is Alphonso Lingis’s trans disciplinary exploration of subjectivity, self-awareness, and the experience of being.
Broadly speaking.
The book explores:
- Subjectivity and Perception
- Embodiment and Existence
- Consciousness and Identity
- Interconnectedness and Otherness
- Experience and Reflection
It’s PRETTY EASY to speak of Lingis BROADLY. But to speak of Lingis and his work more SPECIFICALLY is a challenge.
At it is least for me.
I’m kind of AWE STRUCK by him at the moment.
Lingis is a free spirit.
Lingis is a liberated intellectual artist.
Lingis is a truly unique voice.
Lingis speaks from the perspective of a philosopher, a psychoanalyst, an anthropologist, an artist, a poet, and most importantly a person.
For Lingis.
Personage has a special meaning that is MUCH more expressive, and expansive, and vast than that of ordinary use.
For Lingis, personage seems to be a kaleidoscopic collision of parts and wholes that defy DEFINITION/DESCRIPTION but BEG to SPOKEN and EXPRESSED and SHARED.
For Lingis, personage extends FAR beyond its ordinary container to include not ONLY the “universal” experience of white westerners.
But also to include humans from all walks.
Animals alive, dead, extinct and mythical.
Plants.
Planets.
Poor people.
Lingis is an anthropologist.
He goes into the “field” and lives with “others”.
Lingis is a photographer.
He takes pictures of people in places, that seem “foreign” to us WESTERN, INDUSTRIAL, EDUCATED, RICH, DEMOCRATIC (WEIRD)O’s.
Lingis is a poet.
He struggles and gropes at the edge of language to animate his subjective experience of subjectivity VERY broadly construed.
Lingis is a psychoanalyst.
He probes and pries at the edge of awareness to discover and describe what lies just beyond the repression barrier. Not only at the level of the individual. But at the level of culture, humanity, and as far beyond that as one can imagine.
Lingis defies category.
He’s brave.
His work is special and unique.
When you read it.
It seems SO OUT OF LEFT FIELD.
And also.
So VERY OBVIOUS.
Of course we can BREAK WITH CONVENTION.
Of course we can BE EXACTLY WHO WE ARE.
Of course we can SMEAR BOUNDARIES.
Of course we can TRANSGRESS DISCIPLINES.
The thing that seems to hold Lingis together.
The ligature that binds.
Is his profound CURIOSITY, LOVE, RESPECT and GRATITUDE for the SACRED MYSTERY of LIFE.
CURIOSITY, LOVE, RESPECT and GRATITUDE for the very experience of existence. However fleeting. However painful or ecstatic.
How ever it is.
Lingis gives it:
CURIOSITY, LOVE, RESPECT and GRATITUDE
ABSOLUTELY MARVELOUS!
5/5 🤩
Broadly speaking.
The book explores:
- Subjectivity and Perception
- Embodiment and Existence
- Consciousness and Identity
- Interconnectedness and Otherness
- Experience and Reflection
It’s PRETTY EASY to speak of Lingis BROADLY. But to speak of Lingis and his work more SPECIFICALLY is a challenge.
At it is least for me.
I’m kind of AWE STRUCK by him at the moment.
Lingis is a free spirit.
Lingis is a liberated intellectual artist.
Lingis is a truly unique voice.
Lingis speaks from the perspective of a philosopher, a psychoanalyst, an anthropologist, an artist, a poet, and most importantly a person.
For Lingis.
Personage has a special meaning that is MUCH more expressive, and expansive, and vast than that of ordinary use.
For Lingis, personage seems to be a kaleidoscopic collision of parts and wholes that defy DEFINITION/DESCRIPTION but BEG to SPOKEN and EXPRESSED and SHARED.
For Lingis, personage extends FAR beyond its ordinary container to include not ONLY the “universal” experience of white westerners.
But also to include humans from all walks.
Animals alive, dead, extinct and mythical.
Plants.
Planets.
Poor people.
Lingis is an anthropologist.
He goes into the “field” and lives with “others”.
Lingis is a photographer.
He takes pictures of people in places, that seem “foreign” to us WESTERN, INDUSTRIAL, EDUCATED, RICH, DEMOCRATIC (WEIRD)O’s.
Lingis is a poet.
He struggles and gropes at the edge of language to animate his subjective experience of subjectivity VERY broadly construed.
Lingis is a psychoanalyst.
He probes and pries at the edge of awareness to discover and describe what lies just beyond the repression barrier. Not only at the level of the individual. But at the level of culture, humanity, and as far beyond that as one can imagine.
Lingis defies category.
He’s brave.
His work is special and unique.
When you read it.
It seems SO OUT OF LEFT FIELD.
And also.
So VERY OBVIOUS.
Of course we can BREAK WITH CONVENTION.
Of course we can BE EXACTLY WHO WE ARE.
Of course we can SMEAR BOUNDARIES.
Of course we can TRANSGRESS DISCIPLINES.
The thing that seems to hold Lingis together.
The ligature that binds.
Is his profound CURIOSITY, LOVE, RESPECT and GRATITUDE for the SACRED MYSTERY of LIFE.
CURIOSITY, LOVE, RESPECT and GRATITUDE for the very experience of existence. However fleeting. However painful or ecstatic.
How ever it is.
Lingis gives it:
CURIOSITY, LOVE, RESPECT and GRATITUDE
ABSOLUTELY MARVELOUS!
5/5 🤩
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews