La Ragione nella Storia

This volume stems from a collective project aimed at exploring the historical forms of rationality—not as an ahistorical abstraction, but as a situated practice shaped by transformation, tension, and crisis. Originating with the conference Reason in History (Foggia, March 2023) and developed within two national research projects (PRIN), the volume goes beyond merely gathering essays on the concept of reason. It offers a genuine cartography of rationalities: philosophical, scientific, theological, symbolic. From the outset, the title reflects a double perspective: reason as a historical agent, and reason as itself historically constituted. The contributions engage with this dual tension through exemplary cases—from Islamic cosmology to Christian theology, from Jewish philosophy to scholastic logic, and from canonical models to less institutional forms such as alchemy and astrology. What emerges is a dense and layered landscape in which rationality appears not as a fixed foundation, but as a critical exercise and situated orientation. In a time marked by the delegitimization of rational discourse and the crisis of modern grand narratives, this volume offers a space for rethinking reason as a historical practice and as a still-possible instrument for understanding and transforming the present.