CFP: Eidos. A Journal for Philosophy of Culture (vol. 10, no. 2/2026): Phenomenology and Narrative

Volume 10: no. 2/2026
Phenomenology and Narrative

This issue of our journal will be devoted to the relationship between phenomenology and the topic of narrative. We would like to invite contributions presenting interdisciplinary methodologies involving perspectives of phenomenology, hermeneutics, narratology and structuralism. We would also welcome historical approaches to the genealogy of the relationship between phenomenology and narrative.

The relationship between phenomenology and narrative seems to be nearly as old as phenomenology itself but at the same time often unnoticed or undervalued. Starting from Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel’s narratively structured Phenomenology of Spirit and vast analysis of historical teleology that had a great impact on the philosophy of history, Hegel’s phenomenology was interpreted as an example of a Bildungsroman (Josiah Royce). In Metahistory, Hayden White ascribed to Hegel’s philosophy the potential to transgress the ironical paradigm of storytelling. This was followed by Edmund Husserl’s perspective on the roots of reason in ancient Greek culture and transcendental phenomenology being the major accomplishment of human history, presented in the text titled Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology.

Among the most famous representatives of Herbert Spiegelberg’s so-called phenomenological movement, phenomenology and narratives often walked side by side, readily manifesting their strong and troublesome kinship. On the one hand, phenomenology aspiring to scientific rigorous analysis seemed to turn its back on narratives, understood as an example of imaginative preposterous fiction. On the other hand, vivid interest in literature was the common and perpetual thread in the writings of Husserl’s successors: Martin Heidegger, Roman Ingarden, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Emmanuel Levinas.

The constant presence of narrative issues among phenomenological writers is partially manifested in the structure of their texts, mixing formal analysis with literary language (as in examples of Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, or Jean-Paul Sartre). Sometimes phenomenologists organized their texts in the form of narrative dialogues (see Heidegger’s Country Path Conversations); in other cases, they were even writing prose and dramas (given the examples of Sartre’s Nausea, The Flies, or The Wall). Most importantly, the relationship between phenomenology and narrative was a thread that indirectly but recurrently came back as a task for philosophical thinking. From Heidegger’s reflection about the philosophical role of poetry, following with Merleau-Ponty’s observations about language being the prose of the world, Sartre’s reflection about the role of imagination, and Roman Ingarden’s analysis of the intentionality of the work of art (with a strong emphasis on literary art), phenomenologists constantly and tacitly seemed to focus on the theme of narrative.

Paul Ricoeur’s famous work titled Time and Narrative may be perceived as the direct manifestation of this recurrent phenomenological tendency to gravitate toward narratively driven issues. Ricoeur elaborates on the concept of emplotment which connects Aristotle’s Poetics with St. Augustine and Edmund Husserl’s reflection about the nature of time. In his research, he conjoins hermeneutical and phenomenological methodology. A similar tendency may be found in Hans-Georg Gadamer who, in Truth and Method, analyzed hermeneutical phenomena presenting a grand narrative about the meaning of humanistic sciences. Although Gadamer does not focus directly on the phenomenon of narrative and is mostly interested in the relationship between language and understanding, his own work is structured in the form of a historical narrative tackling major concepts of humanities such as truth, method, understanding, taste, and education (Bildung).

Contemporary phenomenology has noticed the importance of narrative, which can be analyzed not only with structuralist or narratological tools but also from a phenomenological perspective. David Carr in Time, Narrative, and History presented original insights into the nature of history, combining phenomenology, narrative studies, and Hegel’s philosophy.

Among contemporary phenomenologists, Nicolas de Warren is an author who often combines phenomenology with narrative discourse. In The Original Forgiveness, he combines classics of literature such as Shakespeare, Herman Melville, Simon Wiesenthal, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky with a philosophical discourse that oscillates around the topic of forgiveness. Following Sartre’s footsteps, he often draws inspiration from literature, shaping parts of his own text in a form that resembles great novelistic narratives. In the book Husserl and the Promise of Time, he reimagines Husserl as one of the characters from Raymond Queneau’s Sunday of Life who tries to grasp the pattern of time but often fails in this attempt. In a book titled A Momentary Breathlessness in the Sadness of Time – On Krzysztof Michalski’s Nietzsche, de Warren presents a personal and poetic narrative about the passing of his teacher Krzysztof Michalski. This narrative is naturally intertwined with conceptual considerations devoted to the topic of time. In his work, de Warren often combines phenomenological insights and rigorous conceptual analysis with narratives tackling personal experience and biographical facts. In a Hegelian manner, he presents philosophical concepts such as sadness of time and original forgiveness as heroes of grander narratives present in a lifelong journey of a human being.

All of these mentioned examples represent the recurring theme of phenomenology moving closer and closer to the problems of narrative. Therefore, the relationship between phenomenology and narrative seems to be worthy of scholarly attention. We will welcome papers related to members of the phenomenological movement as well as those devoted to thinkers who reflected on the role of phenomenology but preceded the origins of 20th-century phenomenological formation (Lambert, Kant, Hegel). Original contemporary contributions addressing the problem of the relationship between phenomenology and narrative will be considered with great eagerness.

As an academic journal, we expect well-researched, in-depth analyses fulfilling the standards provided for academic contributions. In accordance with the profile of our journal, we are open not only to purely philosophical essays but also to contributions from other cultural disciplines.

Papers should be submitted by November 30th, 2025 to: [email protected].

They have to be previously unpublished, and they cannot be under consideration for publication elsewhere. They should be prepared for a double-blind review process. Please make sure that your paper complies with our submission standards which are posted here: https://eidos.uw.edu.pl/submissions/