Call for papers ‘The Hermeneutic Passion: Nietzsche and His Philosophers’ (Epékeina)

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Call for papers for Epékeina. International Journal of Ontology vol. 14/1 (2022). Deadline for full draft is 31 March 2022.

THE HERMENEUTIC PASSION: NIETZSCHE AND HIS PHILOSOPHERS
Editors: Andrea Bocchetti, Rosaria Caldarone, Andrea Le Moli, Claudia Rosciglione
EPÉKEINA. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ONTOLOGY vol. 14/1 (2022)

See: http://www.ricercafilosofica.it/epekeina/index.php/epekeina/index

Call for papers

Philosophical hermeneutics, as is well known, is at least as old as Nietzsche (Dilthey dies eleven years after him). A part of the current debate, expressing its will for “reality”, accuses “interpretation” and inevitably points the finger at the philosopher who, more than any other, has given rise to an “anti-realist” stance, by the famous statement “facts is precisely what there is not, only interpretations”.

Through a depth analysis of relationship between Nietzsche and the authors with whom he confronts himself, this issue of Epékeina aims to build itself upon the question “what does it mean to interpret for Nietzsche?”. The assumption that we intend to pursue is as follows: with Nietzsche, hermeneutics is no longer conceivable, in its essence, as an action of the subject, always on the border with the arbitrary, the manipulation and the deletion of what is “given”. Hermeneutics is the passion of thought which finds its center in the outside, in an elsewhere: the given therefore reaches the subject and does not merely proceeds from himself; the passion, in this sense, is up to become a possibility for the subject of a self-revelation: this latter reaches himself, through passion, thanks to the other.

Hence the title The Hermeneutic Passion, which does not allude solely or simply to the level of attraction/repulsion on which Nietzsche faces the philosophers and philo-sophìa in general – a level faithful, moreover, to the erotic origin of philosophy -; but, starting from this singular stylistic notation, typical of the German philosopher, he pretends to question the meaning of understanding the otherness through the lens of desire, seeing the birth of this otherness already in the roots of identity. In short, Nietzsche emphasizes the embodied condition of thought, rejecting the universality of the Concept that does not take into account the link with the singular life that expresses it.

It is for this reason that, for Nietzsche, it makes no sense to speak of thought without the pathos that passes through it, without the body that enunciates it, without the experience that traces it.
Such an event could only have a deep impact on the history of philosophy, also in light of the fact that it was determined as the result of a path that the German philosopher tried to embody.

Reading Nietzsche always involves therefore something risky. The stylistic asystematicity, the absence of linear argumentative patterns, which place any reconstructive attempt in front of the risk of a reduction or dispersion, are perhaps the consequence (and not the origin) of the event of sense produced by Nietzsche: namely, the hermeneutics as passion.
By establishing Nietzsche’s works as a common term, the magazine Epékeina has decided to dedicate an issue to the readings that Nietzsche has proposed of the authors with whom he entered in dialogue.

Here are the questions that the editors hope will find an answer in this issue:
> reenactment of influences and interpretations employed by Nietzsche along the formation and construction of his thought;
> exploration of the links that Nietzsche established with leading figures in the history of thought, science and arts;
> reconnaissance of crucial links that most marked the course and development of Nietzsche’s thought.

Submissions can be in Italian, German, French or English. Articles should not exceed approximately 40,000 characters in length, spaces included and follow the author guidelines available at the following link: http://www.ricercafilosofica.it/epekeina/index.php/epekeina/about/submissions#authorGuidelines

To receive full consideration, it is also recommended to submit contributions to Epékeina before March 31, 2022 at the address: [email protected]