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Distraction as a Philosophical Concept and a Stylistic Device in France and Italy. 17th-19th Centuries

Objective

The proposed research challenges and reassesses the historical development of ‘distraction’ in its philosophical and literary implications. The dominant Augustinian-Pascalian strain of Western thought has traditionally viewed distraction as an expression of human imperfection, which has therefore to be corrected in favour of concentration and logical thinking. My project reconstructs how the 17th and 18th cs. witness a different understanding of distraction in both the ethical and the aesthetic-cognitive spheres, paving the way to its revaluation as a productive resource, in literary and stylistic terms, between the 18th and 19th cs. By focusing on the French and Italian linguistic and cultural domains, characterised by a lively circulation of texts and by a relatively homogeneous cultural background, the Fellow will show how the genealogy of distraction intersects and mirrors the intellectual and cultural tensions between the Old Regime and the post-revolutionary decades. In particular, the proposed research will address the ways distraction tackles and reassesses the conflictual relationship between truth and falsehood, objectivity and subjectivity, theory and fiction, thereby blurring the borders between philosophical-theoretical and literary-fictional forms of writing. The project possesses both historical and theoretical implications. On the one hand, it reconstructs a fluid moment in Western cultural history, witnessing a profound reconfiguration of philosophical and rhetorical praxes, whose outcome may even be identified in literature as an attempt to recompose the original fracture between poetry and philosophy in which Western culture – according to Agamben – is rooted. On the other, it firmly relies on a strong philosophical framework that, through a constant dialogue with thinkers such as Bergson, Benjamin, and Rancière, understands distraction as a peculiar and intrinsic feature of intellectual modernity.

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EF

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2014

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Coordinator

UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 183 454,80
Address
KIRBY CORNER ROAD UNIVERSITY HOUSE
CV4 8UW COVENTRY
United Kingdom

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Region
West Midlands (England) West Midlands Coventry
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 183 454,80
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