Abstract

The relation between identity and difference is a much discussed issue in continental philosophy. Within the phenomenological tradition several approachesto this relation stand over and against each other, among them hermeneutics and philosophies of difference. This article sketches their confrontation by choosingtwo “representatives,” Gadamer and Levinas, and by focussing on one term that is used by both of them, namely the metaphor of the horizon. For Gadamer thehorizon is an open border of a perspective that always includes other perspectives; for Levinas the horizon is an enclosure that is broken through by the Other. Both views have their strong and weak points. Finally, a third approach, the “asubjective phenomenology” of Jan Patočka, is suggested as a position that combines the strong and convincing ideas of both sides, while avoiding their problems.