After showing why it is urgent to investigate the topic today, the author studies the concept of fraternity proposing two models of interpretation: extensive fraternity and intensive fraternity. The first one is centered on the relationship between part and whole and between particular and universal; the second one on the dyad uniqueness/plurality. On the basis of the phenomenological investigation of the topic proposed by Lévinas, the author shows how once fraternity is thought intensive will acquire its intrinsically ethical value, and finally it will be possible to test the impact of this idea in terms of political implications.
Keywords: Emmanuel Lévinas, ethics, phenomenology, filiation, fraternity, politics