Hospitality in the age of econo-rithm

The notion of hospitality is re-thought as an event that pierces through three fundamental economies, constituting human existence: The economy of perception, addressed by phenomenology; the economy of sexuality, addressed by psychanalysis; and the economy of production, addressed by Marxism. Each of these economies negates primordial Being, understood through the Hebrew term rav. In each of these economies, the event of hospitality is described as a secondary negation of the rav’s initial negation. In phenomenology, the event is envisioned through in-stasis, conceived as the counterpoint to Heidegger’s notion of ek-sistence. In psychoanalysis, it is thought in terms of the uncanny. In Marxism, it is exemplified with Kafka’s figure of Odradek, that eludes the economy of commodification. This reframing of hospitality positions it as a fundamental trait of human existence, one that warrants further exploration. Discussion concludes with evaluating the relation of the current economy of the algorithm to hospitality.