CFP: Synthese Special Issue: "Knowing the Unknown: Philosophical Perspectives on Ignorance"

Call for Papers: Synthese Special issue

"Knowing the Unknown: Philosophical Perspectives on Ignorance"

Guest Editor(s): Lorenzo Magnani, University of Pavia, and Selene Arfini, University of Pavia.

Special Issue Description:
In the philosophical literature ignorance is an umbrella term that refers to different kinds of cognitive and epistemological failures. This special issue aims at discussing the possibility of a re-definition of the philosophical concepts related to the notion of ignorance (false beliefs, misunderstanding, misinformation, etc.) and it will call contributors' attention to the intersection of ignorance and irrationality, which stands for both cognitive and epistemic failures.
Since in this socio-cultural moment scientific results are politically contested and critical thinking is rarely considered a main subject of standard educational plans, we believe that philosophy of science, epistemology, and social epistemology could play a fundamental role in the development of the investigation of ignorance. Acknowledging this potential role, this special issue calls for contributions that are able to cross-examine theoretical and pragmatic perspectives on the analysis of ignorance and make it possible to redefine the concept in new cognitive, epistemological, and socio-psychological terms.

Appropriate Topics for Submission include, among others:

• the relationship between irrationality and ignorance;
• the applied, societal, and epistemological analysis of ignorance;
• the cognitive approach to the concept of ignorance;
• the impact of ignorance studies on the understanding of societal issues (fake news, misinformation, false belief, just-so stories, stereotypes etc.);
• the strategic role of ignorance in everyday reasoning and critical thinking;
• logical accounts of ignorance;
• the value of ignorance in scientific methodology.

Submission   The deadline for submissions is the 20th of February 2019

Manuscripts should be submitted online at http://www.editorialmanager.com/synt : after registering and logging in to the system, make sure to select the option “S.I. Knowing the Unknown” from the Article Type scroll-down menu.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere. All manuscripts are refereed through a peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available at the following page https://www.springer.com/philosophy/epistemology+and+philosophy+of+science/journal/11229?detailsPage=editorialBoard.
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For further information, please contact the guest editors: [email protected]; [email protected].

Lorenzo Magnani,
Department of Humanities, Philosophy Section,
and Computational Philosophy Laboratory,
University of Pavia,
Piazza Botta, 6,
27100 -- Pavia, Italy.
 
Selene Arfini,
Department of Humanities, Philosophy Section,
and Computational Philosophy Laboratory,
University of Pavia,
Piazza Botta, 6,
27100 -- Pavia, Italy.