CFP: INQUIRY - Special Issue: “Foundational Issues in Conceptual Engineering”

*** CALL FOR PAPERS ***

INQUIRY. AN INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY

Special Issue: “Foundational Issues in Conceptual Engineering”

Guest Editors. — Manuel Gustavo Isaac (University of St Andrews) & Steffen Koch (Ruhr University Bochum)

Invited Contributors. — David Chalmers (New York University), Catarina Dutilh Novaes (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), Édouard Machery (University of Pittsburgh), Amie Thomasson (Dartmouth College)

Special Issue Description

This special issue (S.I.) is dedicated to one of contemporary’s hottest topics in metaphilosophy — conceptual engineering. Conceptual engineering is a method which aims at improving, rather than just describing, the representational tools we use in theoretical or practical contexts. More specifically, the S.I. aims to foster discussions about the theoretical foundations of conceptual engineering. What kind of objects does conceptual engineering operate on? What does it mean to ‘engineer’ them? And is the popular metaphor of ‘engineering’ concepts even appropriate? Naturally, how one answers these questions depends on one’s prior theoretical commitments. The S.I. thus provides a platform for explicating crucial foundational issues in conceptual engineering. 

Appropriate Topics for Submission

The topic of the special issue is how the method of conceptual engineering should generally be construed; in particular, we are less interested in specific suggestions for how to ameliorate this or that concept. Viable topics thus include, among others: What is the relevance of metasemantic theorizing to conceptual engineering? How does conceptual engineering look like from an internalist/externalist perspective? Does conceptual engineering operate on an individual or a communal level? How are the two connected? Does conceptual engineering operate on mental or linguistic objects? Again, how are the two connected? How should we construe the goals of conceptual engineers? What is a good method to achieve these goals? How does conceptual engineering relate to other philosophical methods? Is conceptual engineering even feasible?

Papers should be prepared for anonymous review, no longer than 8,000 words, and submitted via https://mc.manuscriptcentral. com/inquiry. 

The deadline is January 31, 2020.

For further information, please contact the guest editors: 

Manuel Gustavo Isaac

University of St Andrews

Department of Philosophy

Edgecliff

The Scores

St Andrews

Fife KY16 9AL

United Kingdom

[email protected]

Steffen Koch

Ruhr University Bochum

Institut für Philosophie II

Universitätsstraße 150

44801 Bochum

Germany

[email protected]