CFP: Lo Sguardo 41: History and Counter-History of Philosophy. Gilles Deleuze and his ‘Portraits’ of Thought

Lo Sguardo is a peer-reviewed and diamond open-access journal of Philosophy. It is indexed by:

• Elsevier SCOPUS
• Clarivate Web Of Science
• Philosopher’s Index
• ERIHPLUS
• MLA Bibliography 

Lo Sguardo is ranked as an "A Class" journal by the Italian Agency for the Evaluation of Research and University (ANVUR), for the area 11/C5 (History of Philosophy)

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On the occasion of the centenary of the birth and the 30th anniversary of the death of Gilles Deleuze (1925-1995), this issue of Lo Sguardo intends to delve into the French thinker’s relationship with the history of philosophy, whose intrinsic complexity, though already abundantly studied, does not cease to offer insights and diriment questions for philosophy tout court.

Even though his production intersects the most diverse areas of philosophical discourse (from theoretical philosophy to politics, via aesthetics), Deleuze maintained a constant dialogue with the authors of the history of philosophy, to whom he devoted numerous monographs, so much so that he was repeatedly reputed to be a ‘historian of philosophy’ – a qualification he carried with him since his years at the Sorbonne. But, on the other hand, in the unique manner of the dialogue woven with such authors, aspects emerge that are symptomatic of Deleuze’s consideration of the history of philosophy as an academic discipline: a device for disciplining thought, which would in fact prevent one from thinking freely and experimenting with the new. Here, then, Deleuze adopts a particular strategy in order to be able to do philosophy in his own name even though through the thinkers of the history of philosophy: that of making deforming portraits of Spinoza, Leibniz, Hume, Kant, Nietzsche, Bergson, Foucault and to varying degrees of many other authors, identifying their specific problems with respect to the tradition in order to decentralize them and turn them into problems of his thought and his era, into their monstrous children. It is thus in this sense that the methodological importance and content originality of Deleuze’s work and courses for the history of philosophy are highlighted.

Moreover, the international critical literature itself now seems to have decreed that the Deleuzian historical-philosophical method, capable at the same time of imparting a peculiar theoretical slant to his research and renewing the image of the great authors handed down in the Western canon, as well as rehabilitating so many ‘minor’ authors (Ruyer, Simondon) or rediscovering ‘unrealized possibles’ in the history of philosophy (Tarde), still constitutes one of the most vital and stimulating aspects of his reflection.

This monographic issue therefore aims to solicit a wide-ranging inquiry into the relationship between Deleuze and the History of Philosophy, in order to investigate its positioning, contributions, and variations. Proposals that privilege the following thematic cores are thus encouraged:

1. The problem of method. A first axis of intervention may concern the critical acknowledgment of the sources of Deleuzian historical-philosophical method (Alquié, Gueroult, Hyppolite), as well as the analysis of problems, the definition of structures, or the identification of concepts within the authors of the history of philosophy;
   
2. Deleuze’s (and Guattari’s) metaphilosophy. Throughout Deleuze’s historical-philosophical work, the search for the philosophical element is underpinned by a precise conception of philosophy (which will later be made explicit by the two authors in What is Philosophy?). This idea of philosophy, which makes a sign toward conceptual constructivism, could also be deepened concerning the current outcomes of the discussion;
   
3. The relationship with ancient and medieval authors. Deleuze’s work, traversed by a constant and comprehensive reinterpretation of the entire history of philosophy, dialogues critically with Plato and Aristotle, but finds especially in ancient and medieval philosophers such as the Stoics, Lucretius, and Duns Scotus a range of elements and issues that would become the conceptual components of his more mature philosophy. The originality of the Deleuzian readings is of particular interest, which can rewrite the history of ancient and medieval philosophy.
4. Modern and contemporary philosophers. From Hume’s passion for empiricism to Kant’s temptation to pervert the transcendental, from the great Spinoza-Nietzsche identity to the French scissors between Bergson and Foucault, Deleuze built a network of alliances and complicities to center the great problems of the history of philosophy and chart unprecedented paths that still speak to contemporary thought and are invited to be explored.
5. Deleuze in the history of philosophy. In recent years, in the face of an interpretative tendency that considered Deleuze an eccentric thinker concerning tradition, and therefore alien to any historicizing possibility, the question of a properly Deleuzian canon has instead arisen. To what extent is it possible to situate Deleuze among the authors who have characterized the history of philosophy?

ACCEPTED LANGUAGES: ITALIAN, ENGLISH, FRENCH, SPANISH

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS: 01/05/2025

Procedure: Submit the article, complete in its entirety and edited according to the editorial guidelines of the journal, through the OJS editorial platform of Lo Sguardo by selecting the appropriate call under “Section”:

https://editorial.losguardo.net/ojs/index.php/LS/about/submissions

Submissions will be subjected to double-blind peer review. The entire submission and selection process of submissions will take place through the platform.

Sara Baranzoni, Filippo Domenicali, Paolo Vignola
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