La dimensión ética de la significación

Abstract

This article aims to identify the basic aspects of Emmanuel Levinas’ thesis on the ethical dimension of significance. At fi rst, the author’s criticisms of two approaches to signification, called in this work: the sphere of signs (section 1) and the sphere of expression (section 2), are reconstructed. In the second moment, Levinas' thesis is stated, according to which, it is in the ethical field where the meaning finds its original meaning (section 3). Finally, some possibili-ties are identified that this Levinasian consideration of meaning opens up for discussions on perception, the contemporary crisis of meaning, and epistemology (section 4). Rather than a detailed exposition of the Levinasian theory of signification, we will point out other channels of reflection based on its ethics as a first philosophy, without getting bogged down in it.