course is intended for doctoral students only course can be enrolled in outside the study plan enabled for web enrollment can be fulfilled in the future you can enroll for the course in winter and in summer semester
If usual dichotomous thinking leads us to meditate the Possible in contrast to the notion of the Real, this course
aims to understand the Possible under the light of its difference with the concept of Infinity (the Real being already
devoid of its traditional meaning through phenomenology).
From the moment Infinity cease to be understood as something negative, incomplete and purely potential, simple
adjective that with a lot of imagination we could just preach about some hardly countable events, from that
moment on Infinity requires a positive definitional effort. We thus find -and this is the basis of our course- the notion
of Infinity stated by Emmanuel Levinas as one of the few positive definitions of this term: Infinity is the new system
of meaning that constitutes the "otherwise than being." Infinity is the movement that goes beyond being, its
phenomenon and all possible experience.
But then we must ask: Is this a legitimate use of the term? Is Levinas turning Infinity into a technical language
decipherable only inside his thinking? We will try to answer by tracking back the Possible and the Infinite, making
at least three basic stops before reaching Levinas: Aristotle, Kant and German Idealism, and Husserl’s
phenomenology.
This extension at the level of content will be balanced by a narrow bibliography and the accurate analysis of key
fragments from each of our authors.
Last update: JAJE (03.02.2015)
If usual dichotomous thinking leads us to meditate the Possible in contrast to the notion of the Real, this course
aims to understand the Possible under the light of its difference with the concept of Infinity (the Real being already
devoid of its traditional meaning through phenomenology).
From the moment Infinity cease to be understood as something negative, incomplete and purely potential, simple
adjective that with a lot of imagination we could just preach about some hardly countable events, from that
moment on Infinity require a positive definition effort. We thus find -and this is the basis of our course- the notion of
Infinity stated by Emmanuel Levinas as one of the few positive definitions of this term: Infinity is the new system of
meaning that constitutes the "otherwise than being." Infinity is the movement that goes beyond being, its
phenomenon and all possible experience.
But then we must ask: Is this a legitimate use of the term? Is Levinas turning Infinity into a technical language
decipherable only inside his thinking? We will try to answer by tracking back the Possible and the Infinite, making
at least three basic stops before reaching Levinas: Aristotle, Kant and German Idealism, and Husserl’s
phenomenology.
This extension at the level of content will be balanced by a narrow bibliography and the accurate analysis of key
fragments from each of our authors.
Last update: JAJE (03.02.2015)
Si la pensée dichotomique la plus simple nous amène à penser le Possible en contraste avec la notion du Réel,
ce cours vise à comprendre le Possible à la lumière de sa différence avec la notion d’Infini ; le Réel étant déjà
dépourvu de son sens traditionnel grâce à la phénoménologie.
À partir du moment où l’Infini cesse d‘être compris comme quelque chose de négatif, incomplet, et justement
purement potentiel, simple adjectif qu’avec beaucoup d’imagination on pourrait juste prédiquer de certains
phénomènes difficilement dénombrables ; à ce moment-là l’Infini exige un effort de discernement positif, voire de
définition. On retrouve ainsi -et voilà la base de notre cours- la notion lévinasienne de l’Infini comme une des peu
nombreuses définitions positives de ce terme : l’Infini désigne presque de la façon la plus exacte le caractère du
Visage, l’expression de l’extériorité, bref le nouveau régime de sens qui constitue « l’Autrement qu’être ». L’infini
est le mouvement qui dépasse l’Être, son phénomène et toute expérience possible.
Mais c’est alors qu’il faut se poser la question : Est-ce un usage légitime du terme ? L’Infini, ne devient-il pas chez
Levinas un élément d’un jargon déchiffrable uniquement dans la cartographie lévinasienne ? Nous allons essayer
de répondre ensemble avec le retracement historique de ces deux notions, le Possible et l’Infini, faisant au moins
trois arrêtes fondamentaux avant de parvenir à Levinas : celle d’Aristote, Kant et l’idéalisme allemand, et la
phénoménologie de Husserl.
Cette extension au niveau du contenu sera équilibrée par une bibliographie précise et ponctuelle, notre méthode
étant l’analyse de morceaux de texte clés pour notre sujet.
