Deconstruction and hospitality: between ethics and politics

Abstract

In the contemporary speeches on hospitality, the contributions of Derrida and Levinas are extremely relevant given the relevance of their discussions on the topic, specifically, in the context of an increasingly globalized international scenario that concerns not only economic issues, modes of production or technical and technological changes, but mainly with regard to interpersonal relationships. Such thinking drastically reduces the relationships of responsibility towards the other. This study aims to point out whether or not there is an ethical dimension to deconstruction. The emphasis is constituted between the absolutely other (in Levinas) and the irreducible other (in Derrida). By means of an interpretative analysis of the main works of the authors in question - Derrida and Levinas - Deridian deconstruction and Levinas' thinking will be placed in dialogue, highlighting possible ethical-political implications of the concept of hospitality. This study is justified by the always urgent need to rethink the conditions of possibility of ethics and politics, to think otherwise, not only the limits imposed on societies in relation to hospitality and welcoming, but to explore the very possibility of the ethical relationship.