CFP: Perspectives on Emancipation: Hermeneutic and Aesthetic Investigations.

Trópos
Rivista di ermeneutica e critica filosofica

Directed by Gianni Vattimo and Gaetano Chiurazzi

Call for Papers: Trópos, Year VIII (2015), n. 1

Perspectives on Emancipation: Hermeneutic and Aesthetic Investigations

Edited by: Saša Hrnjez and Søren Tinning 

What does “emancipation” mean today? A hermeneutical approach to this question tries above all to investigate the significance of emancipation in relation to human praxis. Yet, in order to answer this question another question arises: “emancipation from what?”. Generally speaking emancipation implies an oppressive or restraining structure, a system of unjustified constraints from which we have to free ourselves. With Enlightenment emancipation emerges on the theoretical horizon first and foremost as the idea of liberation - through Reason - from the old structures of power based on dogmatic faith. But if contemporary hermeneutics, primarily with Gadamer, wants to face critically and in the last instance detach itself from the Enlightenment tradition, what then remains from its emancipatory project? Is it to be abandoned, to be reduced, or rather to be transformed and concretized according to the new conditions set by history? If emancipatory praxis contains the utopian horizon of the overcoming or the abolition of the actual state of things, as it is the case in Marxist thinking, how can hermeneutics contribute in order to better define this utopian “beyond” towards which emancipation aims? Moreover, is the infinite and not conclusive process of interpretation by definition an act of emancipation? Can we say, rephrasing the evangelic message, “Interpretation will set you free”? What would be a postmodern perspective on emancipation?

All these questions taken together are trying to outline the space of emancipation in the epoch defined sometimes as “post-emancipative”. An important contribution to this space is found in the arts and contemporary aesthetical reflection. From Brecht’s Verfremdungseffekt to Rancière’s “emancipated spectator”, only to mention a few examples, we find a vast variety of studies and practices, which intend to open new perspectives of emancipation through different aesthetic experiences.

Since capitalist societies today prompt the rethinking of emancipatory practices, this volume sets the task to examine the topic of emancipation through a dialogue between different hermeneutical and aesthetical inquiries, while also opening for broader philosophical discussions of the main question here: “what does it mean for us to emancipate ourselves today?”

Deadlines

Submission deadline: Oct. 31, 2014

Results of blind reviews: Jan 31, 2015

Publication date: June 2015

Submission Guidelines

• Papers should be submitted to one of:
     Saša Hrnjez, [email protected]
     Søren Tinning, [email protected]
• Papers should be in English, French, or Italian.
• Papers should be prepared for blind review (double)
• Each submission should consist of two separate documents containing the
  following:
  1. The full paper including:
1. Title
2. The full paper should not exceed 50,000 characters in total.
3. An abstract of no more than 200 words - also including an English
   title
4. 5 keywords
5. Seestylesheetbelowformoredetailedinformation

           2. A separate cover letter including the following information:

                   1. The title of the paper

                   2. Your name, affiliation and contact information.

                   3. A biographical presentation of 50-60words.

Questions should be directed at the editors of the current issue:
- Saša Hrnjez, [email protected]
- Søren Tinning, [email protected]

General information

Publisher Website: http://www.aracneeditrice.it/aracneweb/index.php/riviste.html?col=tropos Journal Website: http://troposonline.wordpress.com
Journal Email Address: [email protected] 
Indexed in: Philosopher's Index, Philosophy Research Index, Catalago Italiano dei Periodici (ACNP)  

Trópos - Journal of Hermeneutics and Philosophical Criticism was founded in 2008 at the University of Turin (Italy). The editors are Gaetano Chiurazzi and Gianni Vattimo. The managing editor is Roberto Salizzoni.

Trópos publishes essays that address the most relevant contemporary debates in continental philosophy, in a permanent dialogue with other philosophical traditions. Its main fields of interest include theoretical and practical philosophy, aesthetics, linguistic and literary subjects.

Trópos is published twice a year, by Aracne Editrice. Each issue includes a thematic section, followed by essays on various subjects.