Foreword

«Nietzsche the humanist» or «Nietzsche the humanist?». The Philosophical Question debated in the first section of this issue, edited by Carlotta Santini, faces the conceptual challenge posed by the relation between a statement that is undoubtedly legitimate (as a philologist and a scholar in the history of culture, Nietzsche was indeed a humanist) and a question that sounds almost like a claim (can we truly label the author of Human, All Too Human as a humanist?). Exploring the domain opened by this twofold inquiry, the essays gathered in the first section – thoroughly presented by Santini in her editorial preface – investigate a new approach to nietzsche’s thought. As a result, the German philosopher is studied as a critic of a specific kind of humanism, as a propagator of a radically anti-humanitarian philosophy but– at the same and, maybe, for this very reason – also as a thinker capable of elaborating a reflection authentically centred on the human.

Section II, Laboratory, hosts three essays focused on some of the most relevant themes in contemporary philosophy. Paolo Parrottino embarks upon a crossed interpretation of Girard’s claims on the logic of scapegoating and Hobbes’ reconstruction of the state of nature, aiming at sketching an ethics of “responderability” which would allow to rethink the foundations of social and political dynamics. Federico Squillacioti proposes a thorough overview on the contemporary debate concerning the intricated notion of “accelerationism” and its many socioeconomical specifications. Distinguishing between the different (and, sometimes, even opposed) approaches to the concept of “accelerationism”, the author highlights its plasticity and hermeneutical productivity also in relation to the current pandemic emergency. Finally, Iñaki Pertierra resumes the reflection on Nature and Culture (the main topic of our issue 9) by discussing these notions in light of the latest formulations of the evolutionary theory. Thanks to this, the author can effectively – and, sometimes, even surprisingly – deconstruct some implicit preconceptions related to the Nature-Culture dyad, which is a dichotomy only in appearance.

In Section III, Cultures, Aristide R. Nzameyo dedicates an essay to the Cameroonian philosopher Marcien Towa (1931-2014). Following the reading of the notion of “abstract spirit” that Towa proposes in his major work, Nzameyo leads the readers throughout the vast and complex reception of some German Idealism themes in the African philosophical debate.

Section IV, Intersections, presents two contributions that stress the boundaries between ideology and literature on the one hand and, on the other hand, between philosophy and the history of arts. In his essay on Pasolini, marxism and the Frankfurt School, Francesco Garbelli sheds light on Pasolini’s close confrontation with authors such as Adorno and, starting from 1968, Marcuse. Furthermore, Maurizio Ghelardi – renowned expert and editor of Aby Warburg’s works – analyses the influence that Nietzsche had on Warburg’s reflection and his discussion of Nietzsche’s ideas. In this sense, Ghelardi’s essay counts as an interesting appendix to Section I.

Section V, Controversies, gathers a group of five critical contributions surrounding a work by Andrea Sangiacomo where the author provocatively claims that Spinoza’s philosophy incorporates a crucial mistake that would put in jeopardy his entire doctrine and would condemn it to practical pointlessness. In light of this, it becomes doubtful the extent to which Spinoza’s philosophy is truly an Ethics, i.e., if it is truly possible to actually live in accordance to Spinoza’s thinking and to accomplish the results anticipated by the Dutch philosopher. On this crucial problem the five authors develop a controversy composed of further claims and sed contra.

In Section VI, Correspondence, Sofia Quaglia reports her experience as an Erasmus student at Radboud University and discusses similarities and differences with the traditions and common practices of Italian universities.

In Section VII, Philosophical Practices, Pierpaolo Casarin and Silvia Bevilacqua focus their attention on Philosophy for Children. Casarin underlines the peculiarity of Philosophy for Children as a sui generis kind of philosophy, which calls for a redefinition of both the roles of teachers and students, and the forms and functions of philosophical inquiry. Bevilacqua widens the scope of the discussion even further to inscribe Philosophy for Children in the context of a new approach to infancy both as a psychological and social reality, and as an object of philosophical imagination.

Section VIII, Reviews and Events, hosts reviews of recently published books concerning topics as different as the ethics of AI and Robotics, the history of biology, phenomenology, and the didactics of philosophy.

The issue closes with the Section Special Contributions, where Manuele Bellini presents Gabriele Scaramuzza’s philosophical works by focusing on his original research in the field of aesthetics and his ideas on the category of ugliness.