Abstract

According to Levinas, answering the question concerning the relation between recognition and intersubjectivity implies a critique of ontology. Indeed, from an ontological perspective, recognition reduces alterity to the self. The whole philosophical research undertaken by Levinas consists in investigating what ontology presupposes, that is to say an inquiry on what transcends ontology as well as constitutes its condition of possibility. This paper seeks to show how Levinas, through the critic of ontology, tries to solve the contradiction between the recognition of the other as singularity and the other as identity, and how this attempt implies a reflection on the concept of forgiveness.