The paradoxical listening to the other

Heidegger, Levinas, Derrida – and Gadamer

Carlos B. Gutierrez

pp. 91-100

in: Lisa Foran, Rozemund Uljée (eds), Heidegger, Levinas, Derrida, Berlin, Springer, 2016

Abstract

In the light of outstanding philosophical theories, listening to the other turns out to be the paradoxical task of addressing an unreachable absolute, which nonetheless embodies all interlocutors and all vital and affective belongingness of human beings at one time. Thus, the philosophy of the second part of the twentieth century is marked by the strong contrast that goes from absolute otherness, from an other that is completely other; to the belonging otherness to which we are bound in our being. This contrast determines the various nuances of listening to the other which I intend to address in this paper.

Cited authors

Heidegger Martin

Derrida Jacques

Levinas Emmanuel

Gadamer Hans-Georg