From the absurdity and inconsistency: Le neveu de Rameau and the chance to envisage a real critical history

Abstract

This article starts from my conviction that there is no possibility of new thinking and criticism if we begin with our current idea that past and present are united in a way that our reason can always to understand. Thus the possibility of change or alternative to our present always is enclosed within a coherent and closed frame which is alien to the novelty you can find in absurdity and caprice. The work of Diderot gives us the possibility to talk even with what apparently is absurd and unintelligible and thus provides an opportunity to conceive our present in a new and even unexpected way: instead dialogue conversation always configures itself with a combination of rational and absurd and not fully understood moments.