Abstract

Peace’s gift when you meet the other is not a polite phrase. This is courtesy or politeness which institutes a priority order: first the far, then the near. In Levinas’ thought, there is a peace of pure rest, “at home” and a peace which questions my own identity. A fair peace is a peace where the foreigner goes before me. “Close peace is my responsibility for the other man,” says Levinas. It is an “ethical” peace, different from political peace. Peace comes from my own responsibility for the other, until it could die for him. Maybe this welcome will seem crazy, but it is moderated, i.e., involved and estimated in politics. Levinas knows the political moment. But he puts it to its place: to welcome the strangers is an objective fact. Proximity of social link and perspective of far cannot be separated. It’s a matter of politics and right.