The riddle of the word: Levinas and the aphasia of the contemporary world

• Autor(a) principal: Fabri, Marcelo
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Argumentos : Revista de Filosofia (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://periodicos.ufc.br/argumentos/article/view/81322
• topic: Word. Phenomenon. Riddle. Otherness. Crisis.; Palavra. Fenômeno. Enigma. Alteridade. Crise.

The crisis of the contemporary world can be interpreted to a large extent as a crisis of the word. Levinas thinks that we are part of a civilization of aphasics, dominated by a disconcerting and dehumanizing silence. For him, without the word that comes from a radical otherness, thinking would just be an accumulation of information, without any orientation. Nor would we be able to keep alive the search for truth, which is animated by the desire of the other. We argue in the sense of showing that the word has a double function: a) to teach us the meaning of object orientation (fighting to avoid misunderstandings and obscurities, or, simply, entering the space of reasons); b) signify by contrast to the phenomenon, that is, the word is an enigma, it goes beyond objectification. The word is the meaning that allows us to think “more” than we are capable of aiming at. The word is the condition for a permanent and unpredictable renewal of cultural life.     Keywords: word, phenomenon, riddle, otherness, crisis