“The Paradoxes of Gift – 100 years after Marcel Mauss’ Essai sur le don (1925)” – International Conference
The conference, which took place on November 11, 2025, focused the legacy of Marcel Mauss and his Essai of 1925. Starting from the observation of the paradoxical character of the gift as both free and compulsory in some archaic societies, Mauss proposed an interpretation of social relations that profoundly affected not only the social sciences, but also philosophy and theology, producing a true paradigm shift and a flourishing season of studies, of which it is now time to take stock. The conference focused on the phenomenon of gift and the most important categories associated with it: duty, gratuitousness, reciprocity, symbol, supererogation.
Keynote speakers:
Jean-Luc Marion, Académie française, PhD program “Contemporary Humanism”
Cyril O’Regan. University of Notre Dame
Consuelo Corradi, LUMSA University, PhD program “Contemporary Humanism”
Chair:
Stefano Biancu
LUMSA University, PhD program “Contemporary Humanism”
University of Notre Dame Rome Associate Fellow
