CFP: From ex nihilo nihil fit to the Principle of the Sufficient Reason: On the Metaphysics of Ground in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period - Special Issue History of Philosophy and Logical Analysis

Special Issue of History of Philosophy and Logical Analysis
Guest Editors: Clara Carus (Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg), Stephan Schmid (Universität Hamburg)

We invite contributions on the history, development, and philosophical significance of the principle ex nihilo nihil fit (or NIF for short) in the Middle Ages and the principle of sufficient reason (PSR) in the early modern period. We particularly welcome papers that investigate the conceptual connections, transformations, and tensions between these two principles.
Whereas many early modern philosophers endorsed some version of the PSR, they tended to disagree about its scope and force. Is the PSR contingent or necessary? Does a sufficient reason have to necessitate its consequent? By what does something qualify as a reason – simply by making something intelligible at least to God, or to us humans? What kind of principle is the PSR – epistemological, metaphysical, or both? Can it be demonstrated?
Medieval thinkers, in turn, frequently appealed to the ancient maxim “nothing comes from nothing” – but its meaning and implications were equally contested. How does the NIF relate to the four Aristotelian causes? Does the principle require efficient causes, or can other causes supply the relevant somethings, from which some things come too? And how does the NIF function in contexts involving divine mysteries, including creation, and in the context of free action?
This special issue seeks to bring medieval debates on the NIF into conversation with early modern discussions of the PSR, exploring both continuities and discontinuities in the metaphysics of explanation, causation, and grounding.

Possible questions include, but are not limited to:
• How did medieval and early modern authors understand the NIF or the PSR, and what did they take these principles to entail?
• To what extent can the early modern PSR be regarded as a successor principle to the medieval NIF?
• What arguments were offered for or against accepting the NIF or the PSR?
• How did theological, scientific, or epistemological assumptions shape debates about these principles?
• Which considerations motivated changes or refinements of NIF or the PSR? Is there a philosophical lineage connecting the various historical versions of the NIF and/ or the PSR?
• Which versions of NIF or of the PSR remain philosophically attractive today, and why?

Submissions
Articles of up to 10,000 words (including footnotes and references) may be submitted via the journal’s submission system (https://www.editorialmanager.com/hpla/) by April 30, 2027. Papers will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and accepted papers may appear online first.

https://brill.com/view/journals/hpla/hpla-overview.xml?language=en&contents=editorialContent-135986

Pre-Submission Inquiries
If you are unsure whether your contribution fits the special issue, you may send an abstract of 500–1000 words to the guest editors:

• [email protected]
• [email protected]

We look forward to receiving your submissions.

There is an associated conference. Further information and registration: https://shorturl.at/3o33o