PAUL RICOEUR BETWEEN MODERNITY AND POSTMODERNISM
The Philosophical Question of this issue, Paul Ricoeur between modernity and postmodernism, explores Ricoeur’s works from a more innovative angle than that usually adopted by more traditional and established inquiries. It raises, thus, several challenges. In this Section we attempt to shed light on his philosophy from a rather new perspective – one that revolves around the tension within Ricoeur’s thought between modernity and postmodernism, both of which have exhibited in time their own limits.
Starting from the assumption that philosophy must be understood as the critical reflection on complexity, Ricoeur provides several innovative insights on contemporary debated topics such as corporeity, identity, the urban and the natural space, and technology. His reconstructive path, which Ricoeur himself envisioned as a voie longue, does not arrive at conclusive outcomes. Rather, it crosses many plural spaces of reflection to which we can fruitfully turn.
According to these aims, the contributions collected in this first section testify for an “heterodox” and unconventional faithfulness to Ricoeur’s work, according to the belief that the openness of his philosophical itinerary invites to overcome its own boundaries while, at the same time, bearing on the liveliest core of his rich philosophical legacy. As Alessandro Colleoni and Francesca D’Alessandris write in their introduction to the Philosophical Question, «Ricoeur’s polyphonic reflection encourages us to challenge the binary logic of dichotomies and, as ever-beginners examining reality, as Merleau-Ponty would have said, to welcome crisis as the most proper and authentic form of thinking».
In Section II, Laboratory, the Mind-Body problem is back at the centre of the stage. Davide Russo discusses the relation between gesture, language, and tool use from a co-evolutionary viewpoint, whilst Maria Teresa Speranza focuses on dualistic and monistic interpretations of the human being in an argument that touches upon the works of Leibniz, Apel, Scheler, Gehlen, and Plessner. Finally, Felice Cimatti and Pietro Garofalo explore an interesting connection between Marx’s thought and RECS (Radical Embodied Cognitive Science).
In Section III, Cultures, Simona Gallo offers an interesting analysis on the notion of “conscience” in the Chinese culture, while Section IV, Intersections, hosts an essay by Enrico Palma dedicated to unearthing the gnostic elements buried in Marcel Proust’s Recherche. In Section V, Correspondence, Ivan Risafi de Pontes reports on the results accomplished and the challenges yet to face at the Brazilian Universidade Federal do Para di Belem.
Section VI, Philosophical Practices, is composed by two contributions. In the first essay, Lucia Ziglioli makes the case for bringing philosophy to the elderly. The second contribution, by Valeria Salsi, discusses the role that artforms such as music and dance can play as therapeutic aids to help people suffering from the Parkinson disease.
Section VII, Reviews and Events, includes the following articles: Riccardo Valenti on Emmanuel Lévinas by Xavier Tilliette; Federico Squillacioti and André Velasquez on Automi e persone. Introduzione all’etica dell’intelligenza artificiale e della robotica, edited by Fabio Fossa, Viola Schiaffonati e Guglielmo Tamburrini; Gianni Trimarchi on Paul Ricoeur filosofo del ‘900 by Franco Sarcinelli; Federico Maria Gatti on L’unico e la sua proprietà by Max Stirner; and Elena Ruzzier on the XVth International Congress d’Études Kantiennes de Langue Française.
Finally, in Section VIII – Special Contributions – Franco Sarcinelli pays a tribute to the memory of Salvatore Veca, which is further enriched by an unpublished essay on philosophy, science, and technology that Professor Veca shared with InCircolo in the months prior to his passing. We remember him fondly.