Periodic Reporting for period 1 - INTERPHIL (The international congresses and the transnational shaping of philosophy (1900-1948): Spaces – Struggles – Identity – Knowledge)
Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2024-12-31
The project addresses the problem of the construction of philosophy’s disciplinary academic identity by studying the first ten international congresses in philosophy (1900-1948) and relating them to the emergence in Europe of a new academic space that aimed at unity across the different schools of thought.
It implies the analysis of: 1) the emergence of a transnational space of circulation of philosophical texts and scholars; 2) the structure of the scientific struggles between scholars and the role of philosophy in scientific diplomacy; 3) the emergence of a philosophical disciplinary identity through struggles of with other disciplines such as as psychology, sociology and history; 4) the transformation of knowledge produced inside the different national philosophical fields, the emergence of new topics, concepts and buzz-words.
By unveiling the ways in which dreams of cosmopolitism clashed with particular cultures and ideologies, the project will provide new insights on the challenges of internationalism, on the role philosophers played in international organizations such as League of Nations, contributing to the European Societal Challenge concerning the construction of a more inclusive, innovative and reflective society.
Moreover, INTERPHIL focus on knowledge-production on a European scale, it will thuse contribute to the first priority of Europe 2020, namely the one of developing an economy based on knowledge and innovation.
It implies the analysis of: 1) the emergence of a transnational space of circulation of philosophical texts and scholars; 2) the structure of the scientific struggles between scholars and the role of philosophy in scientific diplomacy; 3) the emergence of a philosophical disciplinary identity through struggles of with other disciplines such as as psychology, sociology and history; 4) the transformation of knowledge produced inside the different national philosophical fields, the emergence of new topics, concepts and buzz-words.
By unveiling the ways in which dreams of cosmopolitism clashed with particular cultures and ideologies, the project will provide new insights on the challenges of internationalism, on the role philosophers played in international organizations such as League of Nations, contributing to the European Societal Challenge concerning the construction of a more inclusive, innovative and reflective society.
Moreover, INTERPHIL focus on knowledge-production on a European scale, it will thuse contribute to the first priority of Europe 2020, namely the one of developing an economy based on knowledge and innovation.
During these first 18 months I focuses on a large-range study of the emergence of philosophy as a coherent set of specialties (not yet a discipline) after the reform of the European universities. I historically studied the different academic systems in Austria-Hungary, France, Britain, Germany and Italy to understand what was the place of the set of specialties attached to philosophy (such as ethics, aesthetics, history of philosophy) and what was the place of philosophy in the onto-encyclopedical hierarchy in each country and what were the images attached to philosophy in its progressive detachement from the natural sciences and theology. I studied as well the principal controversies in France and Germany, which contributed to the detachement of "philosophy" from the natural sciences. I listed and studied (also quantitavely) many devices that contributed to the emergence or stabilization of philosophy: manuals, histories of philosophy, journals, learned societies and lexicographies. I analyzed the different methods and standards used. A shorted preliminary work of this type had been done for the 18th century, in order to see what was the state of the organization of knowledge-production before the reform of the universities. I studied as well the different types of sociabilities (meetings in academies) which prepare for the birth of the congresses of philosophy.
In the meanwhile, parallely, I produced a Exel sheet in which I listed a set of attributes of the delegates (sex, age, nationality, role etc.) in order to do a quantitative study. The delagates are more than 1400, therefor the work was important. It will be over by the end of the month.
Finally I purchased all the proceedings of the congresses and produced a Excel sheet in order to do a text-mining / lexicometric study of words, couple of words, co-citation and so on.
I did some networking in New York and Paris and participated to five conferences in north America, where I presented my study.
I did some archival work, but I will have to develop this aspect during the Fall, and I am thinking of swiching my secondement from Vienna to Paris, where all the archives of the first organizers of the congresses are kept.
In the meanwhile, parallely, I produced a Exel sheet in which I listed a set of attributes of the delegates (sex, age, nationality, role etc.) in order to do a quantitative study. The delagates are more than 1400, therefor the work was important. It will be over by the end of the month.
Finally I purchased all the proceedings of the congresses and produced a Excel sheet in order to do a text-mining / lexicometric study of words, couple of words, co-citation and so on.
I did some networking in New York and Paris and participated to five conferences in north America, where I presented my study.
I did some archival work, but I will have to develop this aspect during the Fall, and I am thinking of swiching my secondement from Vienna to Paris, where all the archives of the first organizers of the congresses are kept.
As compared to last year, the project advanced a lot, and, working on it, I never came across any study similar similar to this. Different scholars from different disciplines—not only history of philosophy, also statistics, political sciences, sociology and history—that I met when I present the project seemed very interested in it. I am focussing on the writing a longer publication (a book) rather than essays. When I will have the draft I will exctract two or three relevant chapter to be published as essays in journals and, finally, find a publisher for the book.
Next year I plan to publish in journals of general public (AOC and Philosophie Magazine in French, Scenari in Italian, E-flux in English) a presentation of the outcomes of the project. At the present moment this type of dissemination is premature.
Next year I plan to publish in journals of general public (AOC and Philosophie Magazine in French, Scenari in Italian, E-flux in English) a presentation of the outcomes of the project. At the present moment this type of dissemination is premature.