La “parola inquieta”: il ruolo della scrittura nella decadenza della ragione secondo Giorgio Colli

Abstract

According to Giorgio Colli, the decadence of reason begins at the time that the Greek logos becomes public, that is, when dialectical reason gradually abandons the oral dimension and establishes itself through writing. In Filosofia dell’espressione, Colli argues that the nature of expression is to reveal only imperfectly and incompletely. However, when it “drops” something, each expression gains both extension and representability. This mechanism is broken by writing, which destines philosophy to a “stillness of death”. The essay will explore Colli’s analysis of the historical-metaphysical shift from the authentic logos to the spurious logos, focusing in particular on the difference between reason that manifests itself in living, embodied language, and reason that founds its supremacy through writing, depriving the word of its immediacy. Colli’s arguments will dialogue with some of Nietzsche’s insights devoted precisely to the importance of the spoken word, fundamental in the Greek world and progressively lost.