Alter/Ego - International Interdisciplinary Colloquium
Alter/ego. Encounters and conflicts in the definition of the other and determination of the self.
1st Graduate Conference
University of Macerata
PhD in Linguistic, Philological and Literary Studies
Ainsi je suis mon ego pour l’autre au milieu d’un monde qui s’écoule vers l’autre.
J.P Sartre (L’Être et le Néant, 1943)
The Other: “not me”, “different from me”, the one not belonging to a shared and common perception of identity called “own” in general terms: this crucial question has been investigated and referred to differently according to ages, places, social environments, throughout the changing scientific debates.
Nowadays, more than in the past, we have to focus on a world constantly moving towards the other, in an age of shortened distances, fluid interactions, endless encounters and clashes of the self in the realities of the other, different from one’s own.
The interaction I/other is interpreted as an encounter to overcome limitations or, on the contrary, as a conflictual contraposition, in both cases a reciprocal and opposing need for mutual determination. Moreover, the encounter with the other leads the “I” to rethink and redefine itself in view of the changing interrelations.
These reflections create the favourable circumstances to let the first interdisciplinary conference within the Doctorate in Linguistic, Philological and Literary studies at the University of Macerata arise: an opportunity for researchers belonging to different scientific fields to debate on the common ground of a specific subject, giving voice to their different peculiarities, with an unavoidable attention to current events.