CFP: The Writings in Philosophy/ Online Journal of Philosophy "Thaumazein"

The international journal Thaumàzein will devote a special issue to the topic of philosophers’ philosophical writing.

Is a philosopher’s way of expounding his conception in some ways the content of his philosophy? Does an author’s style reflect his thinking? If so, how? In other words, can we regard the variety of expressions of philosophy as literature?

The proposal arises from the following considerations: Plato’s dialogues are something different from Descartes’ exposition of logical reasoning, as much as the two respective conceptions are different; Bergson’s flashing insights are different from the flat and popular illustration of James and Dewey’s thought; Eco’s ironic argumentation is different from Nietzsche’s now polemical now lyrical argumentation, just as Hegel’s optimistic systematics is different from Schopenhauer’s pessimistic impetuosity; Seneca’s epistles steeped in Stoic wisdom differ from the argumentative style based on Spinoza’s geometric method; Kant’s constructive power (exposed with only apparent grayness) is as distant from the theatrical approach of Bruno’s works as it is from Emerson’s sermons; Freud’s clinical narrative is at the antipodes of Spengler’s obscure ponderosity; Voltaire’s Enlightenment sarcasm is opposed to Rousseau’s preromantic style of confessions; Galileo’s crisp prose is far from Machiavelli’s elaborate prose; Vico’s Campanian baroque has nothing to do with Tertullian’s paradoxical apodicticism, and so does Frazer’s imaginative suggestion from Wittgenstein’s linguistic razor’s edge. Not to mention the Socratic choice of limiting oneself to maieutic inquiry sine scripto.

Participation in the journal’s issue does not necessarily require one to enact comparisons among various philosophers, but rather invites investigations into the method and choice of an individual author in putting forth his or her ideas. An inquiry that is also hermeneutic in nature, capable of restoring greater understanding and intelligibility not only of style but of an author’s own thought. Style and thought would seem so inextricable as to wonder where to draw the line between philosophy and literature: if the heterogeneity of writings is such that they range from epistle to lyric to systematic treatise, what makes a text “philosophical” in the strict sense?

The epoch taken into consideration by the authors of the essays may extend from the ancient world to the modern and contemporary ages, choosing to address philosophers who have distinguished themselves by generating a vision whose theoretical poignancy presents itself as an inescapable whole with their own style and way of dissecting it.

Submission of title and short abstract (1.500 characters max., in English or Italian): October 1, 2023 to the editors:

            Giacomo Scarpelli ([email protected])
            Adil Bellafqih ([email protected])
            Alessandro Mecarocci ([email protected])

Submission of full text (45.000 characters max. spaces included, in English or Italian): April 30, 2024 through OJS platform: https://rivista.thaumazein.it/index.php/thaum/about/submissions.

Please follow the formatting guidelines for authors:
https://www.thaumazein.it/la-rivista/about-the-journal/formatting-guidelines/

Scheduled publication of the volume: December 2024.