Limite/Limit di Maurizio Franzini, Paola Basso, Maria Rosaria Ferrarese, Paolo Na­poli, Enrico Pugliese, Mariuccia Salvati
The introductory text of this issue is the synthesis of a conversation among some of the editors, starting from the concept of limit in economics. The key-word is then analyzed from different points of view, with a multi-disciplinary perspective, in the light of the most relevant issues on the subject, from a sociological, juridical and philosophical point of view, with particular attention to the problem of European borders’ control and current European geopolitical issues, such as the migration crisis and the role of European Union.

L’illimitato e la misura / The Unlimited and the Measure di Serge Latouche
The author, one of the most important theorists of the “de-growth” move­ment, summarizes in this brief but dense essay all the limits of economic ra­tionality. In particular, the author believes that we have reached an epoch-making historical moment, in which the West can no longer support the ideology of economic rationality, otherwise it risks causing an environmen­tal disaster. According to Latouche, only if the Western world abandons the cultural paradigm of rational enlightenment and unlimited growth, the future generations will still be able to live in a sustainable world.

Intervista a Peter Sloterdijk / Interview with Peter Sloterdijk di David Bernard e Alexandre Lévy
In this interview by David Bernard and Alexandre Lévy, the German phi­losopher Peter Sloterdijk talks about his most recent books, focusing on the concept of “Limit”. In particular, according to Sloterdijk, the word “Limit” is closely connected to the idea of “Power”, “Border” and “Hu­man Dignity”: the limit, therefore, is a specifically political concept that has found in modernity a new and different meaning, different to ancient philosophical thought. Finally, Sloterdijk considers the concept of “Li­mit” also from the point of view of psychoanalysis and underlines how this word can also be considered synonymous with balance and normality, as opposed to a daily life that today is increasingly based on excesses.

Metamorfosi di un solco. Terra e confini / Metamorphosis of a Line. Land and Borders 
di Sandro Mezzadra
While one of the greatest achievements of the European Union, the ope­ning of internal borders, risks being canceled, it is opportune to go back to thinking about the nature and function of the border and, therefore, about the freedoms we might lose. Always tracing a border line means to perform an act of violence: think of the mythical foundation of Rome. But just like the State, private property also resorts to violence to define the contours of its rule: think of the fence of the common lands in England. This essay is a concise historical and political reconstruction of this ancient link between violence and borders.

Il limite al “Virginia Woolf” / The Limit at the “Virginia Woolf” Center di Bia Sarasini
The author presents, more than thirty years after its first publication, a text that she wrote in 1985: “About limit. The problem of borders in women’s experience” for the Center of feminist studies “Virginia Woolf”. The text is reproduced such as it was written: a personal consideration on a com­mon experience, while a shared subjectivity was emerging among women looking for a plural dialogue, oriented to the construction of a new subjec­tivity and a different vision of the world and social relationships. Even if we know that the feminist thought has always been an “unlimited desire” for change – as feminine change is fully inscribed in modernity – however the affirmation of this new subjectivity has led to a reflection on the limit: that is the need for a knowledge not derived from the “limits” imposed exclusively by social norms.

Limite e etica / Limit and Ethics di Gabriella Zuffa
The issue of ethical “limit” in treatments at the ending of life is addressed in this writing, following the debate in the National Committee of Bio­ethics and more recently the media uproar on the case of Alfie Evans. The controversy about the suspension of “heroic treatments” is exam­ined, whether and when they are to be considered “excessive” and “not proportionate” in the patient’s best interest. At the root of the dispute lies a different assessment about the role of the “subjective” (patient’s ) point of view versus the “objective” scientific/medical criteria in identi­fying the suitable “proportionate” treatments. The “ethics of subjectiv­ity” is advocated, as a limit to the invasiveness of the new life sustaining technologies.

Il doppio corpo del cittadino. Ai confini dell’universalismo moderno / The Double Body of the Citizen. At the Borders of Modern Universalism di Gabriella Bonacchi
The essay analyzes the evolution of Italian Feminist Thought in the second half of the twentieth century. Starting from the concept of “symbolic or­der”, the author observes that this concept has profoundly influenced the interpretation of social relationships, putting in crisis the traditional roles between man and woman within the Italian society and culture. In this perspective, the author writes a brief history of Italian Feminist Thought, a thought characterized by the link between the female private and public sphere and the claim of a different freedom, starting from the problems connected to the woman’s body in the public sphere.

Epistemologia dei casi-limite. Il grado zero delle cose /Epistemology of limit case. The Zero Degree of the Things di Paola Basso
Very widespread notion, but disregarded as specific object of study, the “limit case” reveals itself as a dart thrown from the human mind to probe the resistance of a given domain. If the most evident feature of the limit (or borderline or edge) cases is the amplification, or the reset, of some salient features to the point of being off line with respect to the genus to which they belong, they always subvert the standard conditions by denouncing a mismatch. In the first place, it is a mismatch between the discontinuity im­posed by the concepts and a continuity that one might observe in reality, which gives rise to problems of transition, border and categorization. The limit cases – exceptional and sometimes catastrophic puzzles – each time take on different looks: degenerate cases, breaking points, exceptional cases, zero degrees, extreme fictions, paradoxes, ideal models, all the way to cases of coincidentia oppositorum or issues of sheer vagueness.

Diritto, Capitale e Limiti / Law, Capital and Limit di Ugo Mattei
The author analyzes the concept of “Limit of Law” and how it has been useful to capitalism in order to legitimize itself. In particular, according to the author, the limits set by the laws of nature have been overcome throu­gh human laws: in this perspective, the concept of limitation is intrinsically linked to the concept of capitalist accumulation and law has been the in­strument of which capitalism has served to overcome every natural limit. Also the concept of “legal person” has traditionally played this role: it is a crucial abstraction in the construction of the institutional scenario domi­nated by the market. The concept of “legal person”, in fact, allows to bring a plurality of individuals into a single individual legal entity, with limited liability but with the aim of pursuing an unlimited profit.

Sui limiti del diritto / On the Limits of Law di Gianfrancesco Zanetti
This paper challenges the notion of external limits of the law. Legal sy­stems may have their own narrative of autonomy and independence, that eventually implies an absence of hard limits; there are, however, other nar­ratives that law itself can acknowledge, and the limits of law can therefo­re dwell in such an acknowledgement. The limits of law, from this point of view, are neither reassuring borders, nor protective walls – they are a conjured up by a pluralism of narratives implied in such practices like conscientious objection or civil disobedience.