Presence and Distance through Vladimir Jankélévitch and Giovanni Morelli’s Alter-native Looks

Abstract

This paper aims to identify the points of convergence and divergence between Vladimir Jankélévitch’s thought and Giovanni Morelli’s one about the binomial presence-distance. In order to understand Jankélévitch’s vision, it will be fundamental to examine the music of Fauré and Debussy. Indeed, reflection on Debussy’s music is the fil rouge that unites the two thinkers. Morelli, however, uses a different approach to the theme from that of Jankélévitch, aimed rather at clarifying the emotional dynamics from a cognitive point of view, therefore the limits of the lyrical ego, at the same time the proponent subject of the communicative-enunciative gesture and receptor of the artistic product.