This paper investigates which consequences for the constitution of subjectivity in its ethical-political dimension can be drawn from Waldenfels’ understanding of responsive phenomenology. The deferment Waldenfels’ thinking of responsivity suggests focuses on a precarious conception of the self as it is regarded as radically undisclosed in respect to the Other. Responding to the Other the self is at the time responsible for the Other. Consequently, the dimension of the ethical and the political is not to be taken as an additional aspect of subjectivity. In responding to the demands of the Other and the third party (le tiers) the responsive subject has always already been exposed to ethical and political imperatives.
