CFP: Balkan Journal of Philosophy

We are pleased to announce the topic of the SPECIAL ISSUE of BALKAN JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY for 2026:

“UNDERSTANDING AND KNOWLEDGE IN SCIENCE, FICTION AND ART“

A widespread view about the “great divide” between science and art builds on the presumption that they are driven by different values. According to this view, science pertains to objective knowledge and truth, while visual arts and fiction, for instance, are best characterized in terms of aesthetic pleasure and subjective interpretation. Recent studies in philosophy and cognitive science, however, reveal that the two sides of the “great divide” have a lot in common. Scientists, for example, often build models that deliberately distort reality, and some have argued that such models contain fictions similar to literary fictions (Godfrey-Smith, 2006; Frigg & Nguyen, 2022). Meanwhile, the attention of many philosophers of science has shifted from scientific knowledge to another epistemic goal: scientific understanding. This shift has opened debates about how knowledge relates to understanding and whether the latter is at all factive (de Regt, 2017; Khalifa, 2017).

On the other side, research in the field of aesthetic cognitivism has shown that many engage with art and fiction not merely for enjoyment, but also because art and fiction are seen as sources of understanding and knowledge (Gaut, 2003; Greenlee et al., 2013; Currie, 2020; Marmodoro, 2020; Shen, 2024). It has been speculated that what we learn from fiction and art are not mere facts or truths about the world. We also learn through direct acquaintance, allegory, analogical and counterfactual reasoning. One specific way art and fiction offer cognitive benefits is by illustrating what it is like to experience particular states or situations and thereby fostering empathy, psychological insight, and self-knowledge (Green, 2022).

To date, discussions on knowledge and understanding in science, art and fiction have largely been held separately; only a few have dared to engage in direct comparisons between the epistemic practices on both sides of the “great divide” (see e.g., Bueno et al., 2017). This Special Issue of the Balkan Journal of Philosophy is intended to contribute to bridging this gap by inspiring reflections on topics such as:

• the role of understanding and knowledge, and their relationship in science and art; 
• the objects of understanding in science and art;
• what we learn about understanding and knowledge from the perspectives of science, art, and fiction;
• the relationship between fiction and reality in science and art;
• the role of conventions in understanding (through) fictions in sciences and art.

Submitted papers should not exceed 8,000 words (including references, a short abstract of about 150 words, and a short list of keywords).

Papers should be sent to the journal’s email address at: [email protected].
The deadline for submission is December 30, 2025.
This special issue will appear in 2026.