| Abstract [eng] |
This MA thesis contains analysis of the concept of alterity in the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas and Jean-Luc Marion by choosing as a starting point Dominique Janicaud’s evaluation of ideas of these authors as a “theological turn” in French phenomenology. However, in the thesis this turn is viewed not negatively (as a distortion of the phenomenological method or disregard for its principles) but, on the contrary, as a focus on those aspects of experience that allow the problem of alterity or otherness to be thought as inevitably involving the philosophical, ethical and religious dimensions. By analyzing their phenomenological approach to the problem of alterity or otherness, it becomes clear that Levinas and Marion criticize the phenomenological perspectives of Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger in a similar manner: they both try to free otherness from the cognitive approach (Husserl), conditions of possibility of experience as well as to go beyond the requirement of necessary horizon of phenomenality (Husserl, Heidegger). This research of the notion of alterity in Levinas and Marion attempts to highlight not only the common orientation of their philosophy, but also the different paths of both authors: Levinas focuses on the problem of alterity of the other person, therefore his phenomenological approach has a distinct ethical character; Marion rethinks the assumptions of phenomenology and, by proposing the notion of a saturated phenomenon, allows us to speak of a priority of otherness or givenness over that of receiving subject; and this otherness should not be regarded as exceptional or rare, on the contrary, the majority of phenomena can have this excessive character. By analyzing the authors’ positions and comparing them, the study aims to highlight the most common features of the religious aspect of otherness - the “revelatory” character of manifestation of otherness, its connection with infinity and the asymmetry of the relationship, or the inversion of intentionality. The research also examines the notions of alterity of Levinas and Marion as an examples of post-secular discourse and compares them with the similar ideas of Jacques Derrida, John Caputo, and Richard Kearny. |
