Abstract

According to Derridean thought, unconditioned hospitality would be the only one in the name of which any hospitality can be offered. On the other hand, conditioned hospitality would be the only real practice of it. This article, based on a contrastive hermeneutic between Derridean and Levinasian thought on the question of hospitality and reception, aims to show how the constant and irresolvable dialectical tension between unconditioned hospitality and conditioned hospitality, as presented by Derrida from the “logic of symmetrical opposites”, it can receive a new reading from the “phenomenological logic of the symbol”. Our proposal, centered on this symbolic perspective, affirms that the absoluteness or unconditionality of the ethical dimension of hospitality can be present in every concrete act of this, which continuously refers to the beyond of the given conditions.