[PHILOS-L] CfP The Philosophy of the History of Philosophy: Concepts and Methods of a Philosophical Discipline (Archivio di filosofia)

[Andrea Gentili]

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Since its inception, the journal Archivio di filosofia has distinguished itself by the attention devoted to the theme of the historical-philosophical method, as well as to the more general problem of the

philosophy of the history of philosophy. With the publication of two monographic issues coordinated by Enrico Castelli twenty years apart (in 1954 and 1974), the journal invited Italian and international scholars to engage with the "theory" of the history of philosophy, paying particular attention to the contents, methods, and aims that characterize the specificity of this discipline.

On both occasions, contributions centered on several essential theoretical questions: What is, or what ought to be, the historical-philosophical discipline? Is it philosophy or is it history? What is its legitimacy as "history" and as "philosophy"? How might it claim a space of autonomy within the broader horizon of philosophy itself, as metaphilosophy? These are fundamental questions that reverberate through the specialist’s daily work, guiding its practice. From this arises a series of further

questions: Which principles should be adopted? Should one look to the methods of the history of science, advocating for a history of truth and progress, or is it preferable to valorize the authors'

"lived experience" (biography, sources, intellectual context)? Is it more important to proceed through a rigorous philological reading of texts, or are argumentative "structures", or even free variations, of greater interest? What attention should be reserved for the history and evolution of concepts? Should history be "vertical" or "horizontal"?

These and other considerations have found worthy defenders and have been sustained by effective, and often polemical, arguments. throughout the twentieth century, the debate on the theory and

practice of historical-philosophical work was animated by discussions of a high speculative level — one need only think of the querelle in France between Martial Gueroult and Ferdinand Alquié, or

the debate in Italy between "historians" and "theoreticians." 

The question remains urgent and essential: What is the history of philosophy as an autonomous

discipline? And what does the historian of philosophy actually "do" when approaching authors and

concepts? Through this monographic volume, Archivio di filosofia proposes to contribute to the de-

bate on the nature and methods of the history of philosophy in light of the current landscape and the

new challenges facing the discipline. What perspectives are emerging? What is the meaning of the

history of philosophy today? How should we confront the challenges of our time, from the digital

revolution to the breaking down of traditional historical-geographical boundaries (Global Philoso-

phy)? Does the history of philosophy still possess a social and cultural role? Is it possible to rethink The volume aims to address the following themes:

• The debate on the object of the history of philosophy: authors, ideas, concepts, systems.

• The debate on the nature of the history of philosophy: philosophy or history?

• The philosophy of the history of philosophy in its relationships with other theoretical per-

spectives: history of concepts, history of ideas, hermeneutics, analytic philosophy.

• The relationship between the history of philosophy and other histories: history of science, of

art, of ideas, and so on.

• The problem of the historical-philosophical method: exemplary debates.

• Contemporary dianoematics.

• Which history of philosophy for the 21st century? Confronting the new technologies of the

digital era: the treatment of audiovisual material, archives, databases, digitization, and the

role of AI in research and education.

Deadline: October 31st, 2026

Length: 40.000 characters (including spaces and notes)

Languages: English, Italian, German, Spanish, or French

Submission: All manuscripts will undergo a double-blind peer review. Each contribution must be

accompanied by a short abstract in English, an English version of the title and up to five keywords.

Submissions should be sent to: dmn...@unife.it and andrea.g...@phd.unipd.it

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