Exceeding the sensible world. Merleau-Ponty through phenomenology, hermeneutics, and semiotics

edited by Marcello Ghilardi and Giovanni Gurisatti

Despite the fact that the philosophical perspective of Maurice Merleau-Ponty is eminently ascribable to the phenomenological tradition, the richness of his reflection opens up important horizons of thought also in the fields of philosophical hermeneutics and semiotics. By considering not only the corpus of works published by the author, but also the working notes, course notes, recently published unpublished works, it is possible to increase the ways of crossing the entire theoretical path of the French philosopher.

In all the published works, but also in texts such as Le visibile et l’invisible or La prose du monde, or again in the notes and drafts for speeches and conferences delivered in the 1940s, Conférences en Europe et premiers cours à Lyon. Inédits I (1946-1947) and Conférences en Amérique, notes de cours et autres textes. Inédits II (1947-1949) it is possible to trace a common thread that shows Merleau-Ponty's great interest not only in the themes of perception, of the body, of art, but also of language, signs, the relationship between thought and its mode of expression. Themes that only apparently are distinct and disconnected are reunited in the philosopher’s late reflection, and can be investigated and questioned through various theoretical perspectives: phenomenology, dialectical thought, Lebensphilosophie, hermeneutics, semiotics, even post-structuralism, in the effort of developing a multi-faceted philosophy, and also with the intention of delving deeply with the fertility of Merleau-Ponty’s thought.

Scholars from different disciplines are invited to submit contributions that address Merleau-ponty’s philospohy and, more generally, some “lines of flight” that from his thought developed in the French philosophical tradition of the second half of the twentieth century. The relationship among different disciplines, or the intertwining of phenomenological and hermenutical approaches, in the crossing fields of perception, language, and interpretation,  can represent some starting points for possible researches and articles.

Proposals should be sent to giovanni.gurisatti@unipd.it or marcello.ghilardi@unipd.it and should include:

- title and abstract (3000 characters max)

- 5 keywords

- brief bio of the author

- email address

Proposals may be submitted in Italian and English.

Deadline for submitting proposals: February 28, 2023.

Notification of acceptance or refusal of the proposal after the peer review process: March 31, 2023.

Deadline for submitting the final article (after the potential revisions required by the reviewers): Aprile 30, 2023.

Publication of the volume expected in July 2023.

All contributions received, after a first general selection made by the editors, will undergo a double-blind review evaluation.