The inevitability of the Said

Abstract

This paper discusses the Levinasian thesis of the inevitability of the Said, having as
its background certain epistemological issues arising from that thesis. I begin by showing the
contraposition between truth of disclosure and truth of testimony, as Levinas defines them, and
point out the most radical differences between the two. I then reconstruct, with subjectivity as the
connecting thread, a way of relating both kinds of truth, showing how the thesis on the inevitability
of the Said is relevant to epistemological discussions. I conclude by suggesting some considerations
with regard to a renewed rationality.