23/05/2024 14:00 - 17:30

HALL: FATESI - MAUROLICO A

Proponent: Brandodoro N., Cerqua E.

Chair: Brandodoro N., Cerqua E.

Speaker: Abbadessa G., Battista L., Berno F., Brandodoro N., Cerqua E., Del Prete D., Lafayette A., Lauria V., Minisini D., Spanò D.

The study of mysticism in its broadness questions the epistemological and methodological framework of the historiographical enquiry. As stated by Michel De Certeau (1925-1986), the mystical phenomenon is far from being a stable historical object. On the contrary, the mystical experience conceals an absent void at its core, an emptiness structuring the relationship between a paradoxical scientifical object and multidisciplinary research. This posture leads to redefining the concept of "scientificity" in itself, thus imposing the need to consider the "paradigm shifts".
This panel aims to focus on the roots and development of western mystical traditions from a diachronic point of view, from antiquity to modern and contemporary world. Among the shifting paradigms, the first to be discussed concerns the opposition between orthodoxy and heterodoxy, that is between institutional powers and elusive forms of heretical resistance. Hence, all traditional partitions can be rethought, and objections rebalanced. As a consequence, humanities must adopt a new posture with respect to the study of mysticism. History of religions, literature, philosophy, history of art and demo-ethno-anthropological studies: these and other disciplines are involved in the reflection on the history of mysticism. Indeed, the very marginality of the latter allows the deconstruction of any boundary.