THE ALLURE OF THE INVISIBLE

A LEGACY FROM METAPHYSICS TO PHENOMENOLOGY

Abstract

The paper examines a legacy from classical metaphysics to French phenomenology: the fascination with the invisible. It benefits, fundamentally, from the theses of Emmanuel Levinas and Jean-Luc Marion, two great representatives of this phenomenology. If, for Heidegger, the question of God is linked to the destiny of metaphysics as onto-theology, and therefore ends up being an “outdated” question, the phenomenology of the invisible, in turn, asks whether such overcoming is not an opportunity to return to the problem of God beyond the meaning of being. Thus, when all voices are unanimous in proclaiming that metaphysics has lost all credibility and legitimacy, phenomenology keeps alive the fascination with the invisible, thus opening a new space of reasons, expanding and renewing metaphysical problems that continue to trouble humanity.