Usi filosofici della catastrofe

Following its modern meaning, “catastrophe” indicates the turning point of a narrative, that leads to an epilogue or that suddenly decides the outcome. Thus “catastrophe”, does not merely mean an absolute end, but rather a shape-shifting, a readjustment, what irreversibly is changing toward something that is still unknown. Describing the collapse of an order, its end, the catastrophe thematizes the causes of the collapse of that order with the intellectual search for a new order, a new continuity. Hence, it represents a theoretical challenge for philosophy, whose attempts to understand and philosophically “use” the catastrophe are dealt in this essay, focusing especially on Plato, Diderot, Rousseau, Kant.