La “grazia” del reale. Alcune considerazioni a partire da Jankélévitch

(The “Grace” of the Real: Some Considerations in the Wake of Jankélévitch)

Abstract

Following up on Vladimir Jankélévitch, this essay considers the category of “grace” (charis) in its rich polysemy and inseparable connection with the notion of “occasion” (kairós). Jankélévitch’s philosophy is focused precisely on the notion of “charme”, which is one of the most emblematic cognates of the ancient term charis. In Jankélévitch, “grace” becomes the “motivation” of the real, understood (according to a register that echoes Bergson’s teachings) as movement, producer of forms, without substance. While giving Jankélévitch’s metaphysics an exquisitely meontological flavor, such a factor explains the inseparable connection between charis and the notion of kairós understood as entirely marked by unforeseeability and and non-causality. This semantic and meontological intertwining ultimately affects the musical form as the “site” par excellence where such an intertwining is displayed.