CfP Greek and Contemporary Philosophies of Language Face to Face, The Journal for the Philosophy of Language, Mind and the Arts
CALL FOR PAPERS
Greek and Contemporary Philosophies of Language Face to Face
The Journal for the Philosophy of Language, Mind and the Arts
(JOLMA 3 | 1 | 2022)
Editor: Begoña Ramón Cámara
Brief description of the issue: In the last hundred years, language has been at the centre of interest in philosophy, so much so that we have come to speak, with reference above all to the philosophy that developed between the 1920s and the end of the century, of a “linguistic turn”. Nor should it be forgotten that this interest in language, which certainly distinguished analytic philosophy, also involved much “continental” philosophy (it is enough to mention Heidegger, philosophical hermeneutics, or Derrida).
The same decades also saw a great development of the investigation of the conception of language in ancient Greek, Roman and late ancient philosophy. The works on the theme of language in the sophists, Plato, Aristotle, the Hellenistic philosophies, Neo-Platonism, Augustine and the Patristic, etc., are increasingly numerous.
In this panorama there are two points that deserve more attention than has been devoted to them so far. The first point concerns contemporary philosophy of language. With a few, albeit notable, exceptions, one feels the lack in contemporary philosophy of language of a systematic study of the previous history of philosophical reflection on language. This is true of the Modern Age (16th–18th centuries) and the Middle Ages; but it is perhaps more true of the Greek, Roman and Late Antiquity. Obviously, all this can be explained by the explicit theoretical orientation of contemporary philosophy of language, especially analytical philosophy; however, this does not exclude that a critical comparison with one’s own history could contribute to enriching and also making more perceptive the current philosophical research on language.
The second point concerns research into ancient conceptions of language. Perhaps in order not to fall into anachronisms or an undue updating of ancient thought, many scholars have avoided using contemporary theoretical acquisitions on language in their approach to Greek, Roman or Late Antiquity conceptions. This is an entirely understandable caution. However, this does not exclude that, read in the light of the current philosophy of language, many ancient pages may reveal new aspects to us, and that the historical reconstruction may come out richer and more percipient.
In this issue we would like to bring together (a) essays that, from the contemporary philosophy of language, want to reflect on the Greek past of language research, without renouncing the theoretical motivation of the research; (b) essays that, committed to the research on Greek conceptions of language, want to confront what has happened in the last century in the reflection on language. One of the aims of this issue is also to collect essays that investigate (c) the way in which some contemporary philosophers of language (Austin, Wittgenstein, Davidson, etc.) have confronted Greek thought; (d) the cases in which Greek texts on language have been read and interpreted in the light of this or that contemporary theory of language (for example, the Cratylus and contemporary theories of reference).
Invited contributors
- Juan José Acero
- James C. Klagge
- Marcello La Matina
- Lidia Palumbo
- Luigi Perissinotto
- Francesca Piazza
- Mauro Serra
Submission deadline: February 28th, 2022
Notification of acceptance: April 15th, 2022
Submission process: Papers will be subject to double-blind peer review by at least two referees, following international standard practices.
Articles must be written in English and should not exceed 6,500 words. Submissions must be suitable for blind review. Each submission should also include a brief abstract of no more than 650 words and five keywords for indexing purposes. The instructions for authors can be consulted in the journal’s website: ‘Editorial Guidelines’.
Notification of intent to submit, including both a title and a brief summary of the content, will be greatly appreciated, as it will assist with the coordination and planning of the issue.
Please submit your proposals to the email jolma_editor@unive.it or using the section ‘Submit’ of the journal’s website
For any question, please use the following address: begonia.ramon@gmail.com