Evasão como renovação do problema do ser: o tempo no horizonte da novidade e da singularidade

Abstract

This study aims to explore in the thought of Emmanuel Levinas (1906 - 1995) the theme of evasion as a renewal of the problem of being, perceiving to what extent the time on the horizon of newness and uniqueness will be decisive and constituent of his philosophical proposition. Levinas advocates the search for a philosophy beyond the knowledge presented by the Western philosophy, that means, it seeks a new way of philosophizing. In this sense, the axiom of investigation of this research seeks to observe to what extent evasion is the condition to state a concept of time, which allows renewing the question of being as being. In the search for its unfolding, the research covered some central works of Levinas's thought, they are: Time and the Other, On Evasion, From Existence to the Existent, Totality and Infinity and In another way than being or beyond the essence. For Levinas, evasion is a concrete situation, from which he pursues to think about the tension between ontology and ethics, where for the author ethics takes primacy over ontology. Levinas's philosophical construction originates from the dialogue with Husserl's phenomenology and Heidegger's ontology, and also, through the influence of the Jewish culture. Levinas is a Jewish philosopher who survived one of humanity's greatest atrocities. In this sense, in his experience of imprisonment, he observed the need for a new way of thinking, in which it is necessary to evade the domain of totality. So, the thesis defended in this research is that, for Levinas, the category of time is central for the evasion of being and, as a renewal of the problem of being. Levinas presents temporality as transcendence, which is a shadowy otherness, which is beyond the power of the present. Temporality as transcendence, that is, towards the other, being, therefore, manifested in alterity in relation to its infinite dimension as a critique of totality. For Levinas, the aspect in its manifestation presents an original saying prior to any saying, this being a metaphysics that look as if ontology in a relationship that takes place face to face. However, through the meaning of the expression, time is opened as diachrony and, at the same time, to an immemorial past, consequently being passivity and responsibility. In this sense, the author proposes the absolute originality of time, as ethical subjectivity. Therefore, the research in its objective covered the thought of Levinas, where he observed that time as a horizon of originality and uniqueness is presented as elementary in the unfolding of his philosophical thought, which makes it possible to observe evasion as a renewal of the problem of being. Time is openness to others. This opening is the human meaning of life that is presented in the epiphany of the other's expression. The relationship between time and the face is language and donation, kindness and justice. In the relationship between time and face to face, the original experience per excellence takes place and, therefore, it is ethical.