Luca Bertolino

This analysis of Cohen's reception of Spinoza's thought draws attention to theoretical issues: the nature of thinking and the thinking of nature. In a synoptic way it refers to several of Cohen's works, trying to determine continuity and discontinuity in his interpretation of Spinoza, with a specific focus on "Ethica ordine geometrico demonstrata". Thus, Cohen's reception of Spinoza's thought seems to be characterized by a continuity similar to what we can find in Cohen's philosophical system as a whole. Discrepancies in his interpretation of Spinoza correspond to a progressive refinement of his own speculative approach.

Starting with theoretical considerations on redemption in Rosenzweig's "Der Stern der Erlösung", this paper highlights the connection between redemption and choral form in Church music. Therefore, according to Rosenzweig, one can clearly distinguish between sacred/religious and spiritual/intellectual music. Rosenzweig also writes about renewing Jewish worship through Bach's vocal music, but we are given scant hints about this. "Bach in die Synagogen!" is nevertheless important, not only as an example for interreligious dialogue, but above all as an invitation to think about redemption in the postmodern condition.

The definition of the lowest common denominator of philosophical practices is widely debated: what is the philosophical core that allows us to distinguish them from other activities? Also, is it possible to identify a methodical peculiarity in philosophical practices? Indeed, many philosophical practitioners refer to dialogue as the specific philosophical character marking their professional activity. This statement, which as such is rather naive, is obviously somewhat problematic. However, philosophical practitioners stress the λόγος of dialogue. In addition to investigating how the dialogue is understood in the different philosophical practices, this contribution aims at enhancing the διά, the "between" of dialogue. This dimension, in fact, may be a possible theoretical framework within which to understand philosophical practices as a whole.

Rosenzweig's "new thinking" can be seen, among other things, as the vanishing point of two gazes: one addressed to the "old philosophy" of the past, the other to the postmodernity of the present. The goal of the present essay is therefore twofold: on the one hand, to go back retrospectively to the relationship between critical idealism and the theoretical proposal represented by "Der Stern der Erlösung"; on the other hand, to evaluate, in a perspectival way, what the latter has to say in relation to the philosophy of difference. It is thus possible to investigate the meaning of philosophizing in general and to assess the relevance of Rosenzweig's thought in particular. New thinking is all the more fruitful because it exists in a close dialectic relationship with modern rationality, grasping its "up-to-here-and-no-further" boundary; at the same time, it presents analogies with the postmodern philosophy of difference, without, however, reaching the same antirational conclusions. As for the meaning of philosophizing, Rosenzweig famously thought that the religious experience of revelation could offer a space-time orientation, which is why it was the keystone of his new thinking. However, if one wants to prescind from the "belief" element and find a meaning and orientation in the alogical and purposeless context of postmodernity, one has to yearn for a form that is present in absence: this tension finds its foundation in the up-to-here-and-no-further of critical idealism and is continually reconfigured in relation to difference, both thought-of and experienced.

The "healthy human understanding" presents a theme of constant struggle for Rosenzweig, above all with regard to his determination of the essence of philosophy, because this concept acquires for him an anti-philosophical hue that colors both theory of knowledge and ethics. This contribution follows the traces of the healthy human understanding in Rosenzweig's works. On this background, it is determined that the "old" philosophy falls into a deep discontent, in contrast to the contentment of the "philosophy of healthy human understanding". The discontent of the latter nevertheless also becomes apparent, however, because it is incapable of giving an account of itself. In this regard, one can find a horizon of research precisely in that "rational treatment" which Rosenzweig mocks as "Criticin-vaccination". The essay "What does it mean to orient oneself in thinking?" in which Kant, among other things, defines the common healthy reason, offers a convincing approach to a faith which partakes of rationality.

Philosophical counseling has faced the problem of therapy in different ways. At the beginning, it adopted a wholly negative stance against psychotherapy; later it developed a more critical and articulate awareness. More specifically, and more productively, in recent years philosophical practitioners have tried to answer the question whether their counseling may have a therapeutic function. This article aims to outline some significant attitudes of philosophical practitioners toward the therapeutic issue. By way of conclusion, it offers some personal reflections on philosophy as therapy.

The paper aims to present the proprium dialogicum of the café philo. In theoretical terms, the philosophical dialogue in the café philo can be recognized as discursive rationality and play of the faculties ruled by the logistikon, as an exercise of critical thinking, as an endless quest of meaning, and finally as a way of life. All those theoretical acquisitions are tested by the comparison with results from one year of praxis of café philo, part of the Diderot Project supported by the Fondazione CRT of Torino, conducted with more than 2.000 high-school students of Piedmont.

Il concetto di nulla viene assunto come chiave ermeneutica per accostare la proposta teoretica di uno dei maggiori rappresentanti del pensiero ebraico contemporaneo: Franz Rosenzweig (1886-1929). Attraverso l'analisi dei luoghi, delle accezioni e delle valenze con cui il nulla si presenta nelle pagine della "Stella della redenzione", si evidenzia come ai diversi significati attribuiti da Rosenzweig a questo concetto corrispondano differenti modi di intendere la filosofia. I temi della filosofia del nulla, della creatio ex nihilo e della morte intesa come nulla esistenziale scandiscono la lettura dell'opus maius di Rosenzweig e mostrano come egli, nel teorizzare un "nuovo pensiero" che vuole rendere conto dell'esperienza religiosa attraverso categorie alternative a quelle onnicomprensive della tradizione filosofica, rimanga per certi versi ancora legato all'idealismo critico.

The philosophical question "what is?" plays different roles in the work of Cohen and Rosenzweig. According to Cohen, it expresses the authentic meaning of the Socratic concept, which has its methodical-transcendental foundation in the Platonic Idea as answer, since it gives an account of the concept. So Cohen turns the question into an epistemological problem, because it ultimately refers to the necessary condition of knowledge. In contrast, Rosenzweig sees in the "what is?" question grounds to condemn the "old" philosophy founded on the identity of being and thought. In his view, the question is the original sin of the "philosophy of the All", which has always reduced everything to something completely different by means of the altering word "is" in the "is"-question. Nevertheless, with regard to the "what is?" question, it is possible to detect a kind of agreement between the two philosophers: namely, Rosenzweig opposes a claim of ontological reduction that Cohen also rejects.