The devotion towards the unknown

Abstract

Throughout the three sections of this paper, we reflect on a notion of major relevance for the academic field: research and the act of research. In the first section, we turn to etymology to reconsider the multiple layers of meaning involved in this concept. In the second section, we explore the origin or genesis of research and we propose the idea of affection (affectio), developed by Spinoza in his Ethics, as a conjectural answer. Finally, in the third section, we inquire into the question of how the research act manifests itself in a human being. As an answer to this matter, and drawing upon a tradition starting in Socrates and continuing up to the works by Heidegger and Gadamer, we propose the role played by the question. Research is nothing but adopting an emotional-intellectual attitude towards the things we do not know, an attitude we refer to as devotion towards the unknown.