CALL FOR PAPERS XI, 26, 2025: ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF KAFKA

 

Dead line: January 30,  2025

 

This issue of ‘Logoi’, which is edited by Aisling Reid and Valentina Surace, is dedicated to Franz Kafka (1883–1924), marking the centenary of his death.
Walter Benjamin noted that to understand Kafka’s work entirely, one must consider his perceived failure, as demonstrated by his last will, which directed that his works be destroyed. In this apparent failure, Kafka probes deeply into the human condition and existence. Kafka’s life, much like that of his character Hunter Gracchus—the eternal wanderer—mirrors that of a living dead man. His oeuvre forms an ellipse centred around two focal points: the alienating experience of modern urban life, dominated by an opaque legal and economic system, and his estranged relationship with Jewish tradition, feeling like an exile within his own heritage. Notably, the hybrid animals in his stories, hiding beneath the earth, shielded from the world above, symbolise Kafka’s own sense of alienation. This outsider perspective allowed Kafka to incisively capture the agony of the declining Habsburg empire, the “world of yesterday”, and to recognise the irreversible crisis of foundational values in a way that few other Central European writers of his era could. His enigmatic and unsettling work continues to engage not only literary but also philosophical interests, challenging us even today, a century after his passing, a testament to his enduring relevance.

Proposed topics might include (but are not limited to):

– Law
– Jewish identity and exile
– tradition and modernity
– animals
– human and non-human
– messianism
– Influence of Kafka on contemporary literature, art and thought
– Kafka and Psychoanalysis

 

Authors interested in responding to a Call for Papers are invited to:

1. consult the ‘Submit’ section where they will find instructions for submitting materials;
2. read the editorial guidelines [pdf], Proposals not conforming to these guidelines will not be accepted;
3. submit proposals to valentina.surace@unime.it e aislingreid1@hotmail.com (and info@logoi.ph) and can be submitted in Italian or English.

 

It is also worth noting that only unpublished contributions related to the monographic themes chosen by the Editorial Board for the journal will be considered.

 

 

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CALL FOR PAPERS XI, 27, 2025: TEACHING PHILOSOPHY: A PHILOSOPHICAL, EDUCATIONAL, AND POLITICAL ISSUE

 

Dead line: April 15,  2025

 

This issue of ‘Logoi’ is edited by Annalisa Caputo, Luca Illetterati, Alessandra Modugno, and Giovanni Paoletti. The subtitle provides the direction and tone for the volume. The aim is not so much to gather experiences (at the university and/or school level) related to the teaching of philosophy but to problematize the very issue of teaching philosophy through three avenues, which are essentially three open questions:
Is teaching (philosophy) merely a matter of pedagogy, or is it also a philosophical issue?
If so, how and why? What theoretical issues has the teaching of philosophy raised in the past, and what does it continue to raise today? What would philosophy lack without (the interrogation of) its teachability, and what is lacking in pedagogy when deprived of the “of philosophy” genitive (objective? subjective?)? How should the ancient yet ever-relevant dilemma—teaching the (history of) philosophy or teaching how to philosophize—be addressed today (or better addressed)?
Teaching philosophy as a boundary discipline, engaging in dialogue with other fields of knowledge related to education.
What relationship exists, or should exist, between pedagogy as such and the specialized teaching of philosophy? Is there a specific contribution that philosophical methodologies can offer to general pedagogical methodology? How do philosophy’s teaching methods—its workshops, practices, exercises, class discussions, and debates—impact the broader way teaching can be conceived, experienced, and proposed? Is there a “philosophical” way of designing pedagogical projects, thinking about the relationship between knowledge and competencies, and so on?
Finally, yet primarily, the political dimension. Consider the marginalization that the teaching of philosophy often continues to face (and the age-old question: why is it taught only in Licei?). Reflect on the latest PF60 reforms and what is expected (or not) regarding teacher training and recruitment. Think about the marginalization often reserved for those who seek to connect the worlds of schools and universities. Address the challenge of bridging the gap between the concrete, thoughtful experiences of those teaching philosophy in schools (and not only in Licei) and those who should make pedagogy the object of research and teaching it—yet often have no direct experience of a classroom setting. Consider the responsibility and ultimate reasons for academic and school-level commitment to students in a context where critical thinking is increasingly marginalized.

Regarding these topics, we invite authors to:

1. consult the ‘Submit’ section where they will find instructions for submitting materials;
2. read the editorial guidelines [pdf], Proposals not conforming to these guidelines will not be accepted;
3. submit proposals to info@logoi.ph, with a copy to annalisa.caputo@uniba.it and alessandra.modugno@unige.it

Please note that only unpublished contributions relevant to the monographic themes selected by the Editorial Board will be considered.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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CALL FOR PAPERS XI, 28, 2025: SARTRE AUJOURD’HUI

 

Dead line: May 30,  2025

 

This issue of ‘Logoi’ is edited by Ciro Adinolfi, Andrea Bellantone, and Carmine Di Martino.
More than eighty years after L’être et le néant, we can ask ourselves: what remains of Sartre today? In recent years, critical literature has consistently engaged with the themes of Sartrean thought, as evidenced by numerous conferences and publications in the international landscape, exploring the relevance of his reflections while identifying their potential and limitations.
The issues at the heart of Sartre’s work across its different phases (freedom, bad faith, value, otherness, choice, situation, subjectivation, intersubjectivity, psychoanalysis, childhood, desire, praxis) enable us to approach our era with a stratified, multifocal perspective. While the philosophy of his early period facilitates an inquiry into the structures of existence, his later research broadens the view to encompass individual and collective situations, stemming from a critical reflection on their implicit assumptions.
Furthermore, the political dimension of Sartrean thought should not be overlooked, including its concrete engagement, which Sartre himself never abandoned until his death in 1980. Finally, it is essential to highlight Sartre’s contribution to the role of art in human experience: literature and theater, biography and autobiography, novels and poetry are all subjects of a meditation that delves into the relationship between the individual and their possibilities.
The Logoi journal’s call for papers aims to explore both the relevance and irrelevance of Jean-Paul Sartre’s thought. Below are some possible themes or keywords for proposed contributions:

• Freedom
• Otherness
• Ethics
• Intersubjectivity
• Subjectivation
• Psychoanalysis
• Biography
• Praxis
• Politics
• ArtThe reception of Sartre’s thought

Authors interested in responding to the call for papers are invited to:

1. consult the ‘Submit’ section where they will find instructions for submitting materials;
2. read the editorial guidelines [pdf], Proposals not conforming to these guidelines will not be accepted;
3. submit proposals (approximately 50,000 characters) in Italian, English, or French to the following email addresses:

ciro.adinolfi@ict-toulouse.fr
andrea.bellantone@ict-toulouse.fr
carmine.dimartino@unimi.it
and cc to info@logoi.ph

Please note that only unpublished contributions relevant to the monographic themes selected by the Editorial Board will be considered.

Notification of acceptance, including any required major or minor revisions, will be sent by July 31, 2025. Contributions will be published by December 31, 2025.

 

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CALL FOR PAPERS XII, 29, 2026: DISTANCES AND HORIZONS: PERSPECTIVES ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF HANS BLUMENBERG

 

Dead line: June 16,  2025

 

This issue of ‘Logoi’ is edited by Matteo Marcheschi and Tommaso Parducci.
In the past two decades, Hans Blumenberg’s thought has garnered significant interest, especially in philosophical debates surrounding the concept of modernity. This interest stems primarily from Blumenberg’s ability to challenge antithetical conceptual pairs. In his philosophy, nothing is straightforward: things are never fully illuminated, for complete clarity would be blinding. For Blumenberg, the shadow of things is an essential part of reality and experience; to perceive the contours and boundaries of reality, one must observe the world obliquely. Accordingly, Blumenberg’s thought—and the form of reason he examines—does not proceed linearly but through discontinuities.
A central aspect of his philosophy is the relationship between metaphor and concept: not only can metaphor not be reduced to the concept, but it also cannot be observed through conceptual forms. This creates a tension expressed in his metaphorology and particularly in his theory of inconceptuality, as effects of what Blumenberg calls the “rationalization of deficiency,” which “consists in complementing the consideration of what we must do as the fulfillment of the intentionality of consciousness with the more anthropological consideration of what we are capable of doing in terms of fulfillment” (An Outlook on a Theory of Inconceptuality, 1979).
The relationship between metaphor and concept also raises questions about myth, a human creation born from the anthropological and intellectual exercise of distance. Myth is a practice of distance, a detachment from reality that enables us to endure the most burdensome aspects of experience. For this reason, myth seems to oppose modern reason. Modernity, after all, defines itself through the concept of horizon: the position consciously adopted by the observer to comprehend surrounding reality. In one case, the contours of experience are blurred; in the other, they are defined.
From this emerges an idea of logos expressed through various ways of perceiving, living, understanding, and producing the world. The world, according to Blumenberg, is understood through attempts he defines as “reoccupation” (Umbesetzung) and “counter-occupation” (Gegenbesetzung), which relate to a conception of truth as the child of time. However, this time is not linear but folded upon itself, continually revisiting similar problems resolved through attempts partly drawn from the past yet firmly determined by the times from which they emerge, legitimizing or opposing them.
The intertwining of key categories in Blumenberg’s thought allows, as the author’s own metaphor suggests, not for an intensive illumination in a single direction but for the creation of light beams from diverse origins, enabling the delineation of varied contours and opacities. Against this backdrop, it becomes possible to focus on the many forms and functions of Blumenbergian reason in its complex relationship with modernity.
This issue of Logoi aims to explore new aspects of Blumenberg’s philosophy, encouraging interaction between key categories of his thought that have often been examined separately. The discourse will develop along lines that may include topics such as:

• Metaphorology and inconceptuality
• The anthropology of the lifeworld
• Attempts to define historical processes through the notions of “reoccupation” and “counter-occupation”
• The theory of myth based on the issue of distance
• The theory of modernity developed through the notion of horizon
• Reflections on teaching modern philosophy using problematic notions such as “secularization”
• The educational use of Blumenberg’s metaphorological method

Authors interested in responding to this Call for Papers are invited to:

1. consult the ‘Submit’ section where they will find instructions for submitting materials;
2. read the editorial guidelines [pdf], Proposals not conforming to these guidelines will not be accepted;
3. Submit proposals to matteo.marcheschi@cfs.unipi.it; tommaso.parducci@phd.unipit.it, with a copy to info@logoi.ph.

Please note that only unpublished contributions relevant to the monographic themes selected by the Editorial Board will be considered.