Thematic Issue of Discipline Filosofiche XXVI, 2, 2016: Theodor W. Adorno: Dialectical Thinking and Enigma of Truth. Edited by Giovanni Matteucci and Stefano Marino.
For a long time forgotten, in the last few years, dialectical thinking has been paid again great attention. In recent times dialectics has been resumed by and applied to philosophical debates in the Anglo-American scene, as the influential examples of John McDowell and Robert Brandom clearly show. Furthermore, it seems that dialectics is enjoying today widespread appreciation even outside of the specific domain of philosophy, as testified by some developments in the human sciences and, for example, in the realm of psychotherapy with the creation of “Dialectical Behavior Therapy” (DBT) by Marsha M. Linehan.
Among the main protagonists of contemporary philosophy who carefully and intensely dealt with dialectics, Theodor Wiesengrund Adorno must be surely mentioned. In the last decade, the international philosophical community seems to have realized again how important and indeed essential his theoretical contribution has been and still is. The publication of previously unpublished writings of the Frankfurter thinker, edited by the Theodor W. Adorno Archiv, has probably contributed to the renewed interest in Adorno’s philosophy. Among these unpublished works, some of his lecture courses are of greatest importance, such as those on Aesthetics (1958-59), on Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason (1959), on the Problems of Moral Philosophy (1963), and on Metaphysics (1965).
The aim of this issue of “Discipline filosofiche” is to explore how Adorno contributed to the development of dialectical thinking by outlining an original kind of negative dialectics; and in particular to analyze the decisive role played by the question concerning truth that Adorno also (but not only) explored with regard to the “truth content” of art, and always (i.e. even outside of aesthetic theory) with reference to the fundamental “enigmatic character” of truth. These questions can be addressed by focusing on the following themes:
a) the relationship of Adorno’s concept of dialectics to traditional models of dialectics in the history of Western philosophy (Plato, Kant, Hegel, Marx);
b) the theory/praxis connection, as it was rethought and re-elaborated by the Frankfurt School, in general, and by Adorno, in particular;
c) the relationship between the final results, so to speak, of Adorno’s entire path of thinking: negative dialectics and aesthetic theory;
d) the relationship between Adorno’s dialectic philosophy and other forms of thought of our time, either “continental” (phenomenology, hermeneutics, structuralism, deconstructionism, postmodernism) or belonging to the Anglo-American tradition (analytic philosophy, pragmatism);
e) the comparison of Adorno’s concept of truth to other theories of truth that are currently at the core of philosophical inquiry;
f) the concept of enigma within Adorno’s philosophy and his ideas on how it should be dialectically deciphered.
Submission guidelines: Submission can be made in English, Italian, French and German, and should not exceed 9,000 words including abstract, references and footnotes. Manuscripts are welcome in English, Italian, German or French. They should be prepared for anonymous refereeing and sent by email attachment in Microsoft Word together with a Pdf version to Giovanni Matteucci (giovanni.matteucci@unibo.it) or Stefano Marino (stefano.marino4@unibo.it). Contributions are sent to two independent reviewers in a double-blind procedure prior to the publication decision. Authors may be requested to change or improve their articles when suggested by reviewers. Please attach both a fully blinded version of your paper as a “Manuscript” and a separate “Cover page” indicating full name of the authors, academic title, university affiliation and full contact details. The submission should contain an abstract in English, not exceeding 150 words. For further details, please see guidelines (all submissions will be acknowledged). Submitted manuscripts can be formatted in any clear and consistent style, but authors finalizing their papers for publication will be required to hand in a final version that respects the journal’s stylistic rules (download Style guidelines).
Submission of a manuscript is understood to imply that the paper has not been published before and is not being considered for publication by any other journal. The publication of the papers implies that authors waive the copyright; they could request the copyright to the journal for future publication of them.
Deadline for submission: March 31, 2016.
Notification of acceptance, conditional acceptance, rejection: June 30, 2016.
Final version due: September 30, 2016.