Supervisors info:
Γεράσιμος Κακολύρης, Επίκουρος Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Φιλοσοφίας, Παιδαγωγικής και Ψυχολογίας, ΕΚΠΑ
Ασημίνα Καραβαντά, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Αγγλικής Γλώσσας και Φιλολογίας, ΕΚΠΑ
Ευάγγελος Πρωτοπαπαδάκης, Επίκουρος Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Φιλοσοφίας, Παιδαγωγικής και Ψυχολογίας, ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
The purpose of the present thesis is the examination of the way that Jacques Derrida deals with the concept of hospitality in his work. The French philosopher distinguishes two heterogeneous kinds of hospitality: the unconditional and conditional hospitality. On one hand we have the hyper-ethic law of the true, pure or absolute hospitality, which ordains the unconditional reception of the other, no matter who he is and on the other hand, we have the laws of hospitality that are inscribed in politics and law and are included in the right of hospitality, which determines limits, powers and duties not only for the guest but also for the host or the hosting state. The question of hospitality, as Derrida observes, is a question that equates to the question of the stranger, since there is no concept of stranger (xenos) before or out of "xenia". Which is the place of the stranger and where do we find it? The starting point of this question are the different traditions in which the stranger appears, initiating by the ancient Greco-roman tradition, followed by the Abrahamian, up to the cosmopolitanism of Immanuel Kant. The experience that we have about hospitality shows us that it is provided under conditions, on the contrary to the absolute hospitality which is not dependable on the knowledge we have about the other or on predetermined forms of provisional hospitality. Hospitality seems to be possible only through the existence of a house-place, while at the same time it can limit it or even forbid it. Therefore, the absolute hospitality ought to eliminate and restrict all the obstacles that are imposed by the traditional hospitality. Our responsibility to the other, according to Derrida, is always singular and prior to any option or decision. As a result of our infinite responsibility to the other, as a thought of différance, "is" the moment of the paradox and of the contradiction, is the moment of urgency. In the moment of the emersion of the urgency, we have to attempt to render possible the absolute hospitality, which is im-possible, because every reception of the other lacks the infinite responsibility towards him. We must however, struggle ceaselessly between these two sides of hospitality and the hospitality's language, aiming to a renewed mobilisation and a "bestowal of meaning" of thought, for an offer of hospitality with as less conditions as possible. The language of hospitality has to be continuously modified and not to remain consolidated. It is therefore necessary the genesis and cultivation of the re-flexivity, of the infinite questioning of every notion and place, of the interruption and the re-invention of the language itself.
Keywords:
hospitality, ethics, politics, unconditional, conditional, tradition, decision, responsibility, re-flexivity
