The «and» in Franz Rosenzweig’s Work: Connection, Disjunction, Contrariety

The current issue of Archivio di filosofia/Archives of Philosophy is devoted to the very peculiar logics and dialectics involved by a little – but decisive – word in FranzRosenzweig’s work : the word « and ». Despite its apparent lack of content, this conjunction is full of meaning and can even be described as a core term in Rosenzweig’s «NewThinking ». Indeed, it is exactly the « and » that allows – according to Rosenzweig – to avoid the monism which is typical of idealistic philosophy, from Ionia to Jena, from Thales to Hegel. At the same time, a thought grounded on the conjunction « and » could avoid the fragmentation of reality which is typical of many anti-idealistic trends, from Kierkegaard to Nietzsche. Thus, the idea that inspired this issue was to deepen the specific forms assumed by the « and » in Rosenzweig’s work (dialectics, antinomies, paradoxes) and the theoretical-philosophical questions which are implied (solved or raised) by this «little word»