CFP: PHILOSOPHY AND FREEDOM: PHILOSOPHY WITHIN NON-DEMOCRATIC REGIMES

Dear colleagues,

We cordially invite you to contribute to the supplementary volume of “Archive of the History of Philosophy and Social Thought” (ISSN 0066-6874), one of the oldest and most distinguished philosophical periodicals in Poland continuously published since 1957 under the auspices of the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The journal is ranked in ERIH plus, CEEOL, CEJSH, BazHum, and Index Copernicus. gets especially urgent today due to the decline of democracy in numerous societies

This volume aims to provide a forum for the international discussion on the intellectual position and social role of philosophy in authoritarian and post-authoritarian societies, taking inspiration from Hegel's famous claim that the necessary condition for the rise of philosophy, freedom of thought, was first realized in Greece (Lectures on the History of Philosophy). This iteration of the recurring and never-ending question about limits and conditions of the existence of philosophy gets especially urgent today due to the decline of democracy in numerous societies.

We welcome submissions addressing philosophical practices in former and existing authoritarian and neo-authoritarian regimes in Europe and globally, as well as in post-authoritarian states on their way to democracy and democratic societies attempting to prevent authoritarian tendencies. 

We accept contributions from different research fields like history, political science, cultural studies, sociology and other related areas of interest. However, insofar as the journal specializes in the field of the history of philosophy, history of ideas, and history of social thought, the historical approach is our top priority and we welcome contributions on any period from ancient to contemporary. We endeavor to unveil  moments and aspects of authoritarianism in European philosophy as it is presented in documentary sources, archive materials, historical and contemporary legal documents, laws and proceedings, scholarly papers and media, documentaries and fiction. Involving biographical approach, interviews and oral history studies are highly welcome, as well as the analysis of particular cases of philosophical practices within research institutions, education, scholarly journals and informal intellectual communities.

We encourage our contributors to examine the relationship between philosophy and authoritarian rule from different perspectives: as a survival of philosophy under the regime’s control and its resistance to the oppressive system, or vice versa, as a symbiosis where philosophy provides ideological legitimization for the political regime.

Namely, we propose reflecting on topics addressing (but not limited to) the following issues:

▪Is there a genealogical relationship between philosophy and democracy? Is philosophy possible within non-democratic regimes?

▪What are the historical paths of philosophy in different societies while moving towards democratic rule after authoritarian regimes collapse?

▪How does philosophy survive in such regimes by establishing underground zones of free thought and dialogue?

▪How does philosophy legitimized modern state and absolutism? How does philosophy legitimize the totalitarian ideology? 

▪How philosophy and censorship coexist?

▪What is the role of philosophy in empires? How does it support or challenge imperial policy?

▪How do these opposite roles of philosophy gets alone, being realized at the same time and by the same people?

▪When and why philosophical ideas themselves may tend to mutate into oppressive ideologies and how to prevent it?

▪Can philosophy in authoritarian societies preserve its democratic potential and influence the emancipation of these societies?

 Contributors are kindly asked to submit manuscripts in Polish or English no later than July 30, 2023, 11:59 PM CEST. The online publication scheduled for Winter 2023-4

Each published paper is assigned a DOI® number which appears beneath the Author’s affiliation.

Publication is free of charge; all submissions are double blind reviewed.

For detailed information about the journal and submission requirements, please visit journal’s website: http://www.ahf.ifispan.pl/en/dla-autorow

Please send you submission and contact the Guest-Editors for any question:

Julie Kyselova ([email protected])

Luisa Brotto ([email protected])

Danilo Facca ([email protected])

Przemyslaw Parszutowicz ([email protected])