CFP: Conatus - Journal of Philosophy 10, no. 2 (2025): Special Issue on "Gender and Anthropology in the Ancient and Medieval Philosophical and Theological Traditions"

Conatus - Journal of Philosophy will publish a Special Issue in 2025 devoted to the topic of “Gender and Anthropology in the Ancient and Medieval Philosophical and Theological Traditions (5th cent. BCE-15th cent. CE)”. In the last six decades, gender studies have gained importance across various academic disciplines. This has resulted to the production of a prolific body of research on the experiences of women, historically relegated to the periphery of the study of pagan antiquity and Christianity. Recently, a fervent international discussion has ensued regarding gender as debated in the interface of these traditions. Within this framework, some scholars have begun to focus on various Christian and pagan thinkers, so that essentialist positions on sex and gender (both translating the Greek term «φύλον»), currently prevailing in public discourse, may be re-examined. This discussion has proved relevant to the debate about posthumanism (transcendence or extinction of humanity) and transhumanism (humanity’s transference to a superior level of being).

Topics may include (but are not limited to) the following:
• soul, body and their relation to personal identity,
• the fine conceptual distinctions underlying the notion of «φύλον» qua sex (corporeally/biologically determined perspective) and qua gender (socially determined perspective),
• the extent to which the cultural and philosophical premises of key late antique philosophers and Christian Fathers (e.g. Origen, Clement of Alexandria, Galen, Plotinus, Porphyry, Proclus, Nemesius of Emesa, Gregory of Nyssa, Maximus the Confessor) have influenced the way they understood the term «φύλον»,
• the relevance of late antique discussions for today’s public discourse,
• posthumanism versus transhumanism.
Thinkers to be examined can include the philosophical ancestors of Late Antiquity, such as Plato and Aristotle, as well as the posterity (e.g. John Scottus Eriugena, Avicenna, Thomas Aquinas, Pletho, and Renaissance Platonists).

We are looking forward to your submissions. Submissions are due by August 30, 2025.

Conatus - Journal of Philosophy 10, no.2, Special Issue: “Gender and Anthropology in the Ancient and Medieval Philosophical and Theological Traditions (5th cent. BCE-15th cent. CE)” will be published (both print and online) in December 31, 2025.

For guidelines on how to prepare and submit your manuscript please visit Conatus Home Page, and also contact the Guest Editors, Georgios Steiris ([email protected]), Eva Anagnostou-Laoutides ([email protected]), or Dimitrios A. Vasilakis ([email protected]) with the subject heading “Gender and Anthropology submission.” You should submit your manuscript directly through the online OJS platform at the submission page mentioning in the comments-to-the-editor field the special issue your manuscript is being submitted to.

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