We are glad to give notice of the Call for papers “The Conflict of Interpretations”: Hegel and Absolute Knowledge, for the issue of «Dialettica e Filosofia» (2/25).

Deadline for submission: July 15, 2025.

Please find below the text of the call.

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The relationship between the speculative dimension of Hegelian philosophy and contemporary thought appears to be marked by a peculiar ambivalence. On the one hand, Hegel’s system, with the notion of absolute knowledge, aims to demonstrate how the unconditionality of the object must correspond to the unconditionality of thought, thus coherently fulfilling and bringing to completion the demands of metaphysics. On the other hand, however, the elevation of thought to the absolute necessarily entails the transfiguration of the latter into knowledge, method, and process. If Hegelian dialectics, in short, seeks to provide a definitive response to the questions inherited from ancient and modern philosophical traditions, this can only occur through a radical re-signification of these problems—one that relocates them outside the ontological-substantialist and subjectivist-consciousness frameworks within which they originally arose. In this way, Hegel seems to bring to completion the process of fulfillment and dissolution of metaphysics initiated by Kant’s critical philosophy and characterizing the entire development of classical German philosophy. With this philosophical epoch, and with Hegel in particular, a distancing from metaphysics seems to begin—one that will overwhelmingly characterize contemporary thought, which sees in critical and self-critical reflection the fundamental task of philosophy and the most precious legacy of the Western tradition. It is precisely at this point, however, that problems arise. If Hegelian philosophy constitutes itself as a critique of tradition, its critical-negative movement reveals itself to be “in solidarity with metaphysics at the moment of its fall,” showing, precisely in the act of overcoming it, the profound and inescapable truth of what has been left behind. The peculiarity of this way of understanding critique has prevented contemporary thought from fully embracing the legacy of Hegelian dialectics. Even those who, like Jürgen Habermas, have not positioned themselves in outright opposition to it but have instead sought to acknowledge its merits and significance have found themselves compelled to affirm the necessity of a second secularization of philosophy. After the first secularization—carried out by Hegel and classical German philosophy in dissolving the old metaphysics of substance and subject—it seemed necessary to undertake a second secularization of philosophy in order to leave behind the Hegelian claim of making this critical and negative knowledge the ultimate truth of everything. In light of Habermas’s recent reconsiderations regarding the nature and autonomy of post- metaphysical thought, it seems legitimate today to revisit the critical legacy of Hegelian philosophy and its relationship with contemporary thought. Is it possible to go deeper than the great philosophers of the twentieth century did, to uncover within Hegelian thought a critical potential that can be revived by translating and inscribing it within post- metaphysical coordinates—thus abandoning the idealistic shell that risked condemning it? Or, on the contrary, do Hegel’s critical resources lie precisely in his irreducibility to the coordinates of contemporary thought, in his ability to highlight its limitations, its deficits of self-reflexivity, and to denounce the abstract nature of its universalism? The task, therefore, is either to demonstrate—also in light of the latest results of Hegelian studies—the already post-metaphysical and contemporary adequacy of Hegelian speculative thought, or, as Adorno reproached Croce in What Is Living and What Is Dead in the Philosophy of Hegel, to subject contemporary thought itself to the demanding test of the Hegelian conception of rationality.

This Call invites contributions that explore the relationship between Hegelian speculative thought and contemporary philosophy.

Authors are encouraged to adhere as closely as possible to the suggested themes. Submissions should not exceed 50,000 characters, including spaces.

Contributions must be submitted in their complete form, including an abstract and keywords in English, in two copies (WORD and PDF) in an anonymous format. Authors are required to follow the editorial guidelines available on our website at the following link: https://www.dialetticaefilosofia.it/norme.html. Failure to comply with these guidelines will result in the submission not being considered.

Submissions should be sent to dialetticaefilosofia@gmail.com with the following specifications:
– Email subject: Call 2/25
– File names: Essay title_initials of first name_initials of last name (Example: From Dialectics to Hermeneutic Dialogue_c_f)

 

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