Strano anello. Metamorfosi e Polisemia di un Diagramma

Abstract

Circle and spiral are primordial images of mankind. Strano anello [Strange Ring] is concerned with a diagram that reminds us of them equally, yet without being a circle or a spiral. Known as a cam structure, this formal object first appeared in Cahiers pour l'Analyse, a scientific journal that boasted influential authors such as Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Jacques Lacan, and Alain Badiou among its numinous figures. Since then, after an initial adoption in linguistic domains, the cam structure has captivated the imagination of anthropologists, mathematicians, psychoanalysts, and semioticians. The book, divided into two closely related parts, investigates the value of certain applications of the diagram, as well as the meaning of its genesis and transformations