Future Topics
Cartesian Agency and Ethics: Virtue, Passion, Happiness, Freedom
Volume 14, Number 2
Issue date: July 2013
Submission deadline: March 31, 2013
Editor: Shoshana Brassfield (Frostburg State University)
Descartes is well known for what he says about our situation in the world as pure thinkers and knowers. The Cartesian meditator seeks knowledge of the nature and existence of himself and the world around him. But Descartes is also deeply concerned with our situation in the world as agents, with the questions of what our free agency consists in, how we should use it, how we can live virtuous and happy lives, and how the physical, emotional, and intellectual aspects of ourselves affect what we should desire and how we pursue those things. In the Discourse on Method, for instance, Descartes outlines a provisional morality. In the Fourth Meditation he addresses how the incorrect use of the will leads to error and sin, and in the Sixth Meditation Descartes tells us that the purpose of the sense perceptions is not to give us knowledge of the essential nature of things, but rather to help us negotiate what is beneficial or harmful to us as embodied agents. In The Passions of the Soul and his correspondence with Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia, Descartes offers both a theoretical framework and practical advice regarding our situation as embodied moral agents, acting in situations of uncertainty, and influenced by a wide array of desires and emotions in our pursuit of the good.
Essays in Philosophy invites submissions engaged with questions about Descartes’s approach to agency and/or ethics, broadly construed. Topics for submissions may address (but are not limited to) issues such as:
- Connections between Descartes’s accounts of agency, ethics, etc., and those of other philosophers
- Descartes’s conception of the will, freedom, etc.
- Descartes’s moral philosophy (e.g. provisional moral philosophy, happiness, virtue, etc.)
- Descartes’s theory of the passions or intellectual emotions (in general or in particular)
- Descartes’s conception of the good, including perceptions of what is beneficial and harmful to the mind-body composite
- The nature or role of the appetites, according to Descartes
- The physiological components of action, passion, and volition, according to Descartes
- Or any such related question
- The purpose of public philosophy.
- The history of public philosophy.
- The use of argument in public philosophy.
- The role of the “teacher” or facilitator in public philosophy events.
- Connections between public philosophy and democracy.
- Public philosophy and the internet.
- Short-form philosophy and its effectiveness.
- Public philosophy as entertainment.
- The language of public philosophy.
- Social networks as a tool for public philosophy.
- The nature and role of the “amateur” philosopher.
- Public philosophy and its relationship to the university.
- Public philosophy and professional philosophy.
- Public philosophy and diverse populations.
- Is public philosophy “research” in the sense required for tenure by most institutions?
- defining features of consciousness
- the function of consciousness
- the “hard problem” of how consciousness can arise from matter
- objective accounts of subjectivity
- dualist theories of consciousness
- physicalist theories consciousness
- representational theories of consciousness
- higher-order theories of consciousness
- neural theories of consciousness
- the unity of consciousness
- pure (nonintentional) consciousness
- consciousness and personhood
- a science of consciousness
All submissions should be sent to the general editor via email: boersema@pacificu.edu
Public Philosophy
Volume 15, Number 1
Issue date: January 2014
Submission deadline: October 31, 2013
Editor: Jack Russell Weinstein (University of North Dakota)
Public philosophy is a vibrant sub-discipline with a long history stemming from Socrates onward. In the last few decades it has become an industry in the form of multiple book series on the connections between philosophy and popular culture, a force on the internet with dozens of philosophy-oriented blogs, and a beacon of hope for those who wish to educate often uncritical democratic populaces. But little work has been done on the nature and role of public philosophy in and of itself, and little attention has been placed on its methods as distinct from traditional teaching. This issue of Essay in Philosophy aims to be the first single-volume dedicated to the comprehensive examination of the philosophy underpinning public philosophy.
Public philosophy in this context refers to doing philosophy with general audiences in a non-academic setting. And while it is often said to play a role in democratic education, public philosophy is its own enterprise. It is philosophy outside the classroom, a voluntary endeavor without course-credit, assignments, or even a clear purpose. Submissions to the journal will ask about its nature, purpose, role, and assumptions. Some sample topics include:
The volume also welcomes reviews of public philosophy texts investigating their success or failure as public philosophy (as opposed to evaluating them as philosophical argument). Such texts include but are not limited to: Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar, Socrates Café, Sophie’s World, Wittgenstein’s Poker, and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
All submissions should be sent to the general editor via email: boersema@pacificu.edu.
Consciousness
Volume 15, Number 2
Issue date: July 2014
Submission deadline: March 31, 2014
Editor: Donald Abel (St. Norbert College)
The phenomenon of consciousness is at once exceedingly familiar and notoriously difficult to define or explain. Once largely neglected by philosophers, it has received increasing attention since 1974, when Thomas Nagel posed it as the chief challenge to physicalism in his article “What Is It Like to Be a Bat?” Recent years have seen the publication of numerous books on consciousness and the founding of three journals devoted exclusively to this topic: Consciousness and Cognition (1992–), Psyche: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Consciousness (1993–, electronic format), and the Journal of Consciousness Studies (1994–). “Consciousness” can mean many things, but philosophical discussion has focused on “phenomenal” consciousness—the feeling of “what it is like” to be in a conscious mental state, the first-person experience of the distinctive qualitative character of such a state. Inquiries about phenomenal consciousness include its nature, its function, its basis, its ontological status, and its relation to personhood. In exploring these topics, philosophers have fruitfully drawn on research in fields such as psychology, psychiatry, neuroscience, evolutionary biology, sociobiology, and cognitive science. Indeed, philosophy, as an integrative discipline, can play a leading role in the creation of a new, interdisciplinary science of consciousness.
Essays in Philosophy invites the submission of papers that explore some aspect of phenomenal consciousness. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
All submissions should be sent to the general editor via email: boersema@pacificu.edu