The Ethics of Futurity: Messianism and Intersubjectivity
Irina Poleshchuk

Abstract
The primary intent of this paper is to begin the task of thinking throughthetemporality of futurity that shapesthe intersubjective relation. The discussion of futurity is strictly connected to the idea of the messianic and the way it constructs the ethical modalities of subjectivity in the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas. I offer a brief synopsis ofthe philosophical heritage of the messianic in the thought ofHermann Cohen and Walter Benjamin to prepare a conceptual ground for framing thequestion ofmessianic time within a phenomenological context. In seeking to locate a point of orientation for a temporalization of futurity I inevitably emphasize the role of the Husserlian theory of time consciousness and its influences on the Levinasian view of the messianic future. Adhering to Levinas’s line of thinking, I examine the transformations of subjectivitythat result when it is disturbedby the always to come appeal of the future other.Theessential concern of this paper is to gauge the ethical impacts initiated by messianic time, i.e. how the messianic timeof promise and forgiveness shapes the ethical becoming of subjectivity.

Full Text: PDF