Ethics of intimacy: Reevaluating the ethical discourse from the non-substantialist perspective

The project of ethics is focused on the relational maneuverings between two or more individuals, and yet the term intimacy almost registers too close for comfort in an discipline that is founded on first establishing boundaries between two entities and then establishing fixed rules on how one should act in the presence of these boundaries. It is the position of this paper that by denying any permanent or unchanging identity, that is, denying the very boundaries that have been imposed between phenomenal beings, non-substantialist ethics offers an ethical paradigm that brings the ethical relationship to an intimate level while retaining the presence of the individual. This will be shown through the non-substantialist perspective of Mahayana Buddhist Ethics and Derridean Deconstructive Ethics. In addition to addressing the possibility of an ethic of intimacy, the benefits of intimacy though compassion will be discussed in contrast to the Western normative ethical paradigm.