CFP: Special Issue on Virtue and the Emotions

Res Philosophica invites papers on the topic of virtue and the emotions for the 2015 Res Philosophica Essay Prize. The author of the winning paper will receive a prize of $3,000 and publication in the associated special issue of the journal on the same topic. Submissions for the prize will be automatically considered for publication in the journal's special issue unless otherwise requested.

The claim that the emotions, either in general or individually, are intimately connected with virtue goes back to antiquity. But even then, the nature of that connection was disputed, ranging from Aristotle’s view that certain virtues dispose us to feel the right amount of emotion to the stoic views that the emotions (or, more accurately, the passions) are things that we suffer and should try to escape. As Ronald de Sousa notes, “The complexity of emotions and their role in mental life is reflected in the unsettled place they have held in the history of ethics.” This special issue of Res Philosophica seeks to explore this complexity.

Papers on individual emotions and their connection (or lack thereof) to virtue are welcome. For example, are there certain emotions (e.g., shame or disgust) that are never virtuous? Other papers might question the degree to which our emotions can be tempered by right reason in the way that much virtue theory requires, or even whether or not such tempering is possible. 

Papers may also draw on recent empirical work on the emotions (as well as other disciplines like psychology and cognitive neuroscience) to question traditional understandings of the emotions or their connection to virtue. 

Papers from a wide theoretical understanding of the virtues and emotions are encouraged.

Selected papers will be included in a special issue of Res Philosophica along with invited papers.

See here for further details: http://www.resphilosophica.org/calls/virtue-emotions/