Logics of Boundaries. Interweaving and clashing

Edited by Raquel Bouso (PO, Universidad Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona) and Francesca Greco (PhD, Hildesheim Universität)

Boundaries are polyvalent and often paradoxical entities. For this reason, too, it would be reductive and partial to speak of them in the singular. Geometrically, boundaries are located at the extremity (Euclid, Elements; Aristotle, Metaphysics V) of a thing, which in turn is defined precisely by its boundaries. Boundaries open the thing to the world in which it is present and at the same time enclose it within itself separating from the outside the essence contained within them. In this way, boundaries undermine the concepts of continuity and discontinuity (Aristotle, Physics VI) and become places of creativity and transformation (Nishida, Basho). Boundaries thus possess a distinctly ontological feature but at the same time lend themselves particularly well to the most diverse phenomenological analyses of concretely material boundaries (Simmel, Brücke und Tür), corporeal boundaries (Merleau-Ponty, Phénoménologie de la perception), ethical boundaries (Levinas, Totalité et Infini), linguistic boundaries (Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus), cultural boundaries (Anzaldúa, Borderlands / La Frontera: The New Mestiza), gender boundaries (Oyèrónke Oyĕwùmí, The Invention of Women: Making an African Sense of Western Gender Discourses), racial boundaries (Fanon, Peau noire, masques blancs), colonial boundaries (Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Can the Subaltern Speak? ), etc.

By following boundary lines, one can discover in their furrows different 'logics' that guide the defining and operational, including-excluding functions of the particular material, ethical, political, etc. boundaries. Along with tracing the identity and otherness of the thing, in the incision carved by the various boundaries, different in form and place, patterns of determination and interpretation, schemes of interaction and exchange, prototypes of communication and narrative are traced, and psychological mechanisms and social dynamics are established. Through these logics we interpret and act in reality. These logics, in resonance with their objects, that in this case are the boundaries, are to be considered as polyvalent and polymorphic as the above-mentioned objects they superintend.

The present issue of Scenari aims to explore different logics of boundaries. Contributions of both historical and theoretical stance are invited from different areas of philosophy such as ontology, logic, phenomenology, ethics, political philosophy, philosophy of religions and in particular cross-cultural and intercultural philosophy.

We accept submissions from 30,000 up to a maximum of 40,000-45,000 characters, inclusive of spaces and footnotes, including in both Italian and English title, abstract (minimum 500 maximum 1,000 characters), 5 keywords, e-mail address and short biography (minimum 500 maximum 1,000 characters).

We accept submissions in Italian, English, German, French or Spanish.

We invite authors to provide the complete bibliography at the end of the article according to the format: “Last Name, First Name, Title. Publishing House: Location.” and to use intratextual quotations in parentheses according to the template: (Last Name Year, Page Number).

For further clarification see pages 7 and 8 of the Editorial Standards.

Submissions should be sent to: greco-francesca@outlook.it

Deadline for submission of full paper for peer review: December 15, 2025.

Notification of acceptance: February 1, 2026.

Final submission: March 1, 2026.

Expected publication: June 2026.