Analéctica de Enrique Dussel. Camino hacia una filosofía latinoamericana

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to present the Polish reader with a new approach to philosophy proposed by Enrique Dussel. This Argentinian philosopher is known in the region of his thought that originates in the Latin American experience of dependence. He believes that the dialectical method is not appropriate to explain the intellectual condition of the region. In his opinion, Hegel’s path to the Absolute Knowledge and Levinas’ intent to include the Other in it are insufficient as they remain limited in the horizon of the European Totality. He searches for the intermediary approach – the analectic method which consists basically in adding a more ethical character to classical dialectics. The world we live in is inhabited by many entities, but some of them are radically different from the rest – these are the faces of Others. Their emergence in the horizon of our world means the openness to the new spheres which indicate that our Totality is not the only one. The word pronounced from beyond is a call for justice and for stopping oppressing others that think and live differently. The trust in these words would lead to liberation of the peoples of Latin America from the dependence on Europe and the renaissance of their own culture, which has been violently eradicated and eventually forgotten. The philosopher should play the key role in this process by listening and explaining the past, because without it the region has no future. Dussel’s thought constitutes a genuine philosophy of the poor giving the voice to the silenced and excluded and making their position a starting point to the foundation of a wholly different approach. To sum up, it consists in the acceptance of the otherness of the other person. Nevertheless, it may be seen as an utterly contesting approach and essentially rejecting the European thought. Moreover, the exclusive validity of it would result in another type of domination of the Pan-American philosophy, as all nations of the region are treated as one. Despite these disadvantages, Dussel’s philosophy can be useful in Europe if only to awake awareness of the limitations of the European thought.