Metafisica ed etica della relazione

The paper will discuss the contemporary crisis of metaphysics by assuming as background the idea of an ethics of relationship. Three theoretical points are here developed. The main problem of metaphysics is the problem of mediation : this is the first thesis. This assumption is discussed in a second step by reconstructing three moments in the history of Western philosophy : above all the idea of “mediation” in Plato, Aristotle and in the early Christian Thought. Finally, the paper sees the contemporary crisis of metaphysics as the crisis of an articulated and multilateral idea of “relationship”. At the end of the essay, this idea is developed and discussed.