In 1985 Jean Greisch published a text that articulated some trends of coeval philosophical research in Europe. The volume was L’âge herméneutique de la raison (Cerf 1985), and its author asked why and how hermeneutics, originally an exegetical and extra-philosophical discipline, had become a philosophical mindset. His suggestion was that the hermeneutical moment of reason, or the hermeneutical paradigm, was a kind of “work in progress” bound to remain “open” because of the germ of deconstruction or destruction that hermeneutics always carries in itself.
Paul Ricœur can be placed in the line inaugurated by Wilhelm Dilthey, one which does not oppose the Naturwissenschaften to the Geisteswissenschaften, insisting rather on the autonomy of scientific explanation and textual hermeneutics, as witnessed by his famous motto, “expliquer plus pour comprendre mieux”. He conceives hermeneutics as a “long way” that puts philosophy in dialogue with the language of symbol and myth, with psychoanalysis, history, exegesis, semiotics and the philosophy of language, with ethics and, finally, with political questioning about justice. In this process, he uses such different hermeneutical tools as attestation, reflective analysis and reflection, the interpretation of symbols and metaphors, of history and ethics, drawing a line that goes from the self of narrative identity to an interpretation of human beings in light of their capabilities.
If the significance of these tools is not restricted to Ricœur’s own philosophy, it can prompt us to open up new paths of research. What has become today of the hermeneutical “work in progress” and of the reading of reality proposed by Ricœur’s “long way”? Which further steps could be taken along the “long way” started by the French philosopher, and how could hermeneutics continue to evolve today?
These questions could be addressed
1) by building on different aspects of Ricœurian hermeneutics – the hermeneutics of symbols and myths, of text, psychoanalysis, self, history and ethics, politics, metaphor, narrative, biblical exegesis;
2) by considering not only Ricoeur’s own work, but also the heuristic potential of his hermeneutics, that is to say, its capacity to discover new areas in which explanation and understanding can occur today;
3) by aiming at a renewal of hermeneutics and addressing the question of what has become of it after the âge herméneutique de la raison;
4) by taking up Ricœur’s comparison of hermeneutics with other disciplines and continuing his gesture by comparing it to other trends that the French philosopher did not explore (pragmatism, philosophy of mind, ethnology, economy…).

Guidelines for the authors: Submissions should not exceed 9,000 words including abstract, refer-ences and footnotes. Manuscripts may be submitted in Italian, English, French, German, or Spanish. They must be sent as an email attachment in .doc or .docx format, along with a .pdf version, to Carla Canullo (carlacanullo13@gmail.com) and Johann Michel (johann.michel@ehess.fr). Submitted manuscripts will be sent to two independent reviewers, following a double-blind peer review process. The reviewers may ask authors to make changes or improvements to their contributions in view of publication. Authors are kindly requested to attach both an anonymous version of their contribution entitled “Manuscript” and a separate “Cover Page” stating their name, academic affiliation and contact details. Manuscripts must include an English abstract of less than 150 words and 5 keywords. Any property of the file that might identify the author must be removed to ensure anonymity during the review process. A notification of receipt will be issued for each submission. In drafting their text, authors can adopt any clear and coherent style, but should the text be accepted for publication, they will be required to send a final version in keeping with the style guidelines of the journal (please refer to the style guidelines at https://www.disciplinefilosofiche.it/en/norme-redazionali/). Submission of a manuscript is understood to imply that the paper has not been published before and that it is not being considered for publication by any other journal. Should the manu-script be accepted for publication, the author will be required to transfer copyrights to the University of Bologna. Requests to republish the article may be made to the Editorial Board of the Journal.

Deadline for the submission of manuscripts: June 15, 2020
Notification of acceptance, conditional acceptance, or rejection: July 31, 2020
Deadline for the submission of the final draft: September 15, 2020