Aims & Scope
The Journal for the Philosophy of Language, Mind and the Arts is an online, biannual, periodical journal, published by Edizioni Ca’ Foscari Digital Publishing.The Journal is the expression of an active research group based at the Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage of Ca’ Foscari University, in Venice (Italy). The same group of scholars previously founded a research centre called CLAVeS, which currently gathers the scientific activities (seminars, conferences, meetings, etc.) that its members hold in Venice. The research topics this Journal investigates stand between Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Mind, Aesthetics, and Philosophy of Art. Hence, the Journal is intended to offer a chance to develop a thorough and interdisciplinary research (in terms of both interrelations and exchanges within the international scientific community. Furthermore, the Journal is set to provide the opportunity to discuss several theoretical issues, which lie at the core of contemporary philosophical and scientific debate. No particular school or theoretical orientation as well as attitude is excluded a priori. Indeed, contributors are asked to hold an open perspective without any dogmatism, as well as due rigour of argumentation and thematic choices, in order to abide by the richness and variety of theoretical approaches and visions. The Journal is recognised as a scientific journal for areas 10 (Ancient, philological-literary and historical-artistic sciences) and 11 (Historical, philosophical, pedagogical and psychological sciences) by the National Agency for the Evaluation of the University System and Research.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/Jolma/ | e-ISSN 2723-9640 | Periodicity biannual | Language de, en, fr, it
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Latest published issue
In the creation of maps, scientific knowledge related to mathematics and physics combines with knowledge specific to graphic or artistic disciplines. Since all maps are artifacts whose aesthetic qualities convey information that simultaneously engages the fields of ontology, epistemology, and politics, they are objects of undeniable interest for philosophical inquiry. Following what has been termed “the cartographic turn in social sciences”, The Art of Mapping Between Land and Mind delves into two intertwining issues. On one side, it examines how the aesthetic properties of maps convey cognitive, cultural, and political meanings. On the other, it explores the role of visual arts in reflecting on cartographic thought, shaping both its methods and motivations. The volume is divided into four sections. Embracing the point of view of both the philosopher and the geographer, the first one sheds light on the relationship between epistemology and cartography (Kukla; Costantini; Tanney). The second addresses mapmaking as an art form (Tanca; Haugdal) or, conversely, considers maps from the perspective of their aesthetic properties (Török; Ogundiwin; Elhaik). The third focuses on the digital condition of today’s cartography (Tschochohei; Quaranta; Keller). Finally, the last section includes two contributions that represent attempts to guide cartography toward its future (Bosca; Ianniello). Opening this issue, a special essay by Elizabeth Povinelli offers a generous précis of her upcoming book.
De-Humanizing Cognition, Intelligence, and Agency. A Critical Assessment Between Philosophy, Ethics, and Science
Dec. 20, 2023
Unframing/Reframing in the Contemporary Visual, Performing, and Media Arts
Sept. 25, 2023
Translation as Interpretation | On Joseph Margolis’ Aesthetics. A Symposium
Dec. 20, 2022
Greek and Contemporary Philosophies of Language Face to Face
June 30, 2022
Leibniz on Language and Cognition
Dec. 15, 2021
Image/Images: A Debate Between Philosophy and Visual Studies
June 30, 2021
4E Cognition: Aesthetics, Ecology and Beyond
Dec. 9, 2020
On Dispositions
June 30, 2020
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Every article published by ECF was accepted for publication by no less than two qualified reviewers as a result of a process of anonymous reviewing (double-blind peer review). The reviewers are independent of the authors and not affiliated with the same institution.
The Journal’s Editor-in-Chief guarantees the proper execution of the peer review process for every article published in the Journal.
Peer review policies for the different sections:
To be published all manuscripts must comply with the following guidelines. In case of blatant violation of the guidelines, the editor (ECF) can suspend at any time the manuscript’s publication.
The instructions for the preparation of your manuscript, its abstract and its bibliography, are an integral part of the requirements for the manuscript submission. They are downloadable from the menu ‘Publish with us’ at the item ‘Editorial Guidelines’.
To find out more, please contact Edizioni Ca’ Foscari’s editorial staff at ecf@unive.it.
CALL FOR PAPERS (JOLMA 5 | 2 | 2024)
The Dark Side of Being: on What There is Not
Editors: Filippo Costantini (Ca’ Foscari University), Filippo Casati (Lehigh University)
In contrast to Quine’s Parmenidean (meta-)ontology and his preference for desert landscapes, recent years have seen a renewed interest in the non-being: non-existent entities, mere possibilia, negative properties, negative facts, absences, nothingness, voids, holes, etc. Interest in the category of the non-being is not limited to ontology, but has found applications in the philosophy of mind, both with the role that intentionality plays in relation to non-entities (Crane 2013, Priest 2016) and with the problem of perception of absences, and also in the philosophy of art with the much discussed status of absence art, i.e., art that features absences as esthetic objects (Farinnikova 2019). This issue of JOLMA aims to critically examine the role of nonexistence in our theorizing. We aim to collect both sympathetic and critical studies on this topic.
The questioning of Quine’s orthodoxy began by first challenging the Parmenidean assumption that we cannot have reference to the non-being. Indeed, this view seems self-defeating (aren’t we speaking of the non-being right now, and thus referring to it?), and this has motivated philosophers to explore the realm of non-existence, especially with the revival of neo-Meinonghian (meta-)ontologies. Alternative approaches consist in exploring the possibility of empty reference, i.e., fully legitimate singular terms without any reference. But soon non-entities acquired an even more important role. Philosophers began to discuss that strange object which is nothingness, characterized as the absence of everything (Priest 2014, Casati & Fujikawa 2019, Costantini 2020); sometimes arguing that it grounds all of reality (Priest & Gabriel 2022); others have argued for causation by absences or omissions, claiming that absences can enter into causal explanations (Dowe 2001, Shaffer 2004). The idea that the non-being can play an explanatory role in various philosophical contexts seems to be gaining ground. At the same time, these ideas have also been heavily criticized, for example by Mumford (2021) and Della Rocca (2020); while the former defends a position called Soft Parmenidism, the latter argues for the far more extreme position that there are no distinctions in reality denying any positive role to the non-being.
If we admit reference to nonexistent objects, why should we not admit that there are circumstances in which we see what there is not? Psychologists are familiar with illusory contours such as the Eherenstein illusion or the Kanizsa triangle. But recently, there has been a growing body of literature arguing that we experience and/or perceive absences. For example, Farennikova (2013) argues that absence experiences are perceptual phenomena. Moreover, Farennikova (2019) even argues that absences can have esthetic properties, with the implication that absence art enjoys objective value. By contrast, others have claimed that while we can experience absences, we do not perceive them (Gow 2021a, 2021b).
In this issue of JoLMA, we would like to discuss the deeper reasons that may lead us to admit the non-being (in whatever form) in our theorizing in various fields. First, what kind of theoretical role can the non-being play? Can it have any explanatory power? Or even a causal power? Second, can we experience absences and omissions? And if so, is this experience a perceptual phenomenon, or should it be explained in other terms? Third, how can the more traditional ontological views (such as Quine’s) resist such an admission? Do we really need the non-being, or can we do without it? Possible topics might include (but are not limited to) the following:
Philosophy of language & metaphysics: (supposed) reference to non-existent entities; non-being & nothingness; empty terms/ and empty reference; mere possibilia; absences, omissions, voids, holes, empty space; absences and the number zero; negative properties and/or negative facts; negative truths (truthmakers for negative truths).
Philosophy of Mind: perception of absences and omissions; illusory counters; perceptual paradoxes; theories of intentionality.
Philosophy of art: absence art; depicting absences; figures of absence; figural voids.
References
Bernstein, S., & Goldschmidt, T. (Eds.). (2021). Non-Being: New Essays on the Metaphysics of Nonexistence. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Casati, F., & Fujikawa, N. (2019). "Nothingness, Meinongianism and Inconsistent Mereology." Synthese, 196, 3739-72.
Casati, R.; Varzi, A.C. (1994). Holes and other superficialities. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
Costantini, F. (2020). "Extending Everything with Nothing". Philosophia, 48(4), 1413-36.
Crane, T. (2013). The Objects of Thought. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Della Rocca, M. (2020). The Parmenidean Ascent. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Dowe, P. (2001). "A Counterfactual Theory of Prevention and ‘Causation' by Omission". Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 79(2), 216-26.
Farennikova, A. (2013). "Seeing Absence". Philosophical Studies, 166, 429-54.
Farennikova, A. (2019). "Would You Buy Absence Art?". Perception, Cognition and Aesthetics, 255-78. London: Routledge.
Gow, L. (2021a). "Empty Space, Silence, and Absence". Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 51(7), 496-507.
Gow, L. (2021b). "A New Theory of Absence Experience". European Journal of Philosophy, 29(1), 168-81.
Irimia, A. (2021). "Depicting Absence: Thematic and Stylistic Paradoxes of Representation in Visual and Literary Imagery". Zocco, G. (ed.), The Rhetoric of Topics and Forms, vol. 4. Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter, 533-44.
Mumford, S. (2021). Absence and Nothing: The Philosophy of what There is Not. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Priest, G. (2014). "Much Ado About Nothing". The Australasian Journal of Logic, 11(2).
Priest, G. (2016). "Towards Non-Being". Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Priest, G.; Gabriel, M. (2022). Everything and Nothing. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Schaffer, J. (2004). "Causes need not be physically connected to their effects: The case for negative causation". Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Science, 197-216.
Invited contributors
- Friederike Moltmann, CNRS
- Graham Priest, CUNY
- Stephen Mumford, Durham University
Submission deadline: May 31th, 2024
Notification of acceptance: August 15th, 2024
Articles must be written in English and should not exceed 6,500 words (40,000 characters approx.). The instructions for authors can be consulted in the journal’s website: ‘Editorial Guidelines’.
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. 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.
For any question, please use the following addresses: Filippo Costantini (filippo.costantini@unive.it) or the journal (jolma_editor@unive.it).
Please submit your proposals to the email jolma_editor@unive.it or using the section ‘Submit’ of the journal’s website.
Go to the upload area
https://ecfpeerflow.unive.it/abstracts/form/journal/18/304
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CALL FOR PAPERS (JOLMA 6 | 1 | 2025)
Together: non-representational accounts of social cognition
Editor: Carlos Vara Sánchez
For a long time, in philosophy of mind and psychology, the ‘theory-theory’ and the ‘simulation theory’ have been the predominant approaches in trying to explain how one understands and interrelates with other people. Proponents of the first set of theories argue that we use folk or common sense psychology to infer things about other people's mental states (Baron-Cohen 1995; Leslie 1991). On the other hand, those who endorse the second approach consider that we use our own mental activity to elaborate models of other people’s minds (Gordon 1986; Heal 1986). Despite relevant differences, both frameworks share some basic assumptions, such as the unobservability principle (Krueger 2012) —i.e., we need some extra-perceptual processes to gain knowledge from mental states— or the observational stance —i.e., we need to observe others to explain their behavior.
In the last decades, the situation has changed. The conversation has become more nuanced and complex. New frameworks have offered novel approaches to social cognition. Among the reasons for this change, we can mention the resurging of phenomenological (Merleau-Ponty 2012) and pragmatist theories of the mind (Dewey 1922), the consolidation of James Gibson’s ecological psychology (Gibson 1979), and the emergence of enactivism (Varela, Thompson, and Rosch 1991). All these circumstances have brought renewed ideas, concepts, and perspectives to the debate. Compared to the theory-theory and the simulation theory, a common aspect contributed by these approaches is an emphasis on non-representational explanations of social cognition. Instead of private events such as simulations and inferences, we now find dynamic and action-oriented notions that are deeply embodied and embedded in the sociomaterial environment. Mentions of habits, resonance, attunement, constraints, affordances, or coordination are often found when discussing social cognition from a non-representational perspective in the work of Shaun Gallagher (2020), Anthony Chemero (2009), Giovanna Colombetti (2014), Reuben M. Baron (1980), Dan Zahavi (2014), or Thomas Fuchs (2018). However, there is still much to discuss in this field.
This issue of JOLMA intends to contribute to the debate on non-representational approaches to social cognition and their viability. We aim to collect both sympathetic and critical papers on this topic coming from a variety of philosophical and psychological perspectives. Possible topics might include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Limitations and strengths of non-representational approaches to social cognition;
- Direct perception and social interaction;
- On the possibility of higher-order social cognitive processes without representations;
- Tensions between ecological psychology and enactivism in social cognition;
- Social interaction;
- Non-representational dynamics of social cognition;
- On habits and affordances;
- Affectivity and intersubjectivity.
Invited Contributors:
- Laura Candiotto, University of Pardubice
- Edward Baggs, University of Southern Denmark
- Miguel Segundo-Ortín, University of Murcia
Submission deadline: December 31st, 2024
Notification of acceptance: February 15th, 2025
Articles must be written in English and should not exceed 6,500 words (40,000 characters approx.). The instructions for authors can be consulted in the journal’s website: ‘Editorial Guidelines’.
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. 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.
For any question, please use the following address: Carlos Vara Sánchez (carlosvarasanchez@gmail.com) or the journal (jolma_editor@unive.it).
Please submit your proposals to the email jolma_editor@unive.it or using the section ‘Submit’ of the journal’s website.
Go to the upload area
https://peerflow.edizionicafoscari.it/abstracts/form/journal/18/335
Ethical Code of The Journal for the Philosophy of Language, Mind and the Arts
The Journal for the Philosophy of Language, Mind and the Arts is a peer-reviewed scientific journal whose policy is inspired by the COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) Ethical Code. See the Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.
Publisher’s responsibilities
The Publisher must provide the Journal with adequate resources and the guidance of experts, in order to carry out its role in the most professional way, aiming at the highest quality standard.
The Publisher must have a written agreement that defines the relationship with the owner of the Journal and/or the Editor-in-Chief. The agreement must comply with the Code of Behavior for Publishers of Scientific Journals, as established by COPE.
The relationship among the Editor-in-Chief, the Advisory Board and the Publisher is based on the principle of publishing independence.
Editors’ responsibilities
The Editor-in-Chief and the Advisory Board of The Journal for the Philosophy of Language, Mind and the Arts alone are responsible for the decision to publish the articles submitted.
Submitted articles, after having been checked for plagiarism by means of the anti-plagiarism software Compilatio that is used by the University and is made available to us, will be sent to at least two reviewers. Final acceptance presumes the implementation of possible amendments, as required by the reviewers and under the supervision of The Journal for the Philosophy of Language, Mind and the Arts Editor-in-Chief.
The Journal for the Philosophy of Language, Mind and the Arts Editor-in-Chief and Advisory Board must evaluate each submitted paper in compliance with the Journalʼs policy, i.e. exclusively on the basis of its scientific content, without discrimination of race, sex, gender, creed, ethnic origin, citizenship, or the scientific, academic and political position of the Authors.
Allegations of misconduct
If The Journal for the Philosophy of Language, Mind and the Arts Editor-in-Chief and Advisory Board notice (or receive notifications of) mistakes or inaccuracies, conflict of interest or plagiarism in a published article, they will immediately warn the Author and the Publisher and will undertake the necessary actions to resolve the issue. They will do their best to correct the published content whenever they are informed that it contains scientific errors or that the authors have committed unethical or illegal acts in connection with their published work. If necessary, they will withdraw the article or publish a recantation.
All complaints are handled in accordance with the guidelines published by the COPE.
Concerns and complaints must be addressed to the following e-mail ecf_support@unive.it. The letter should contain the following information:
Authors’ responsibilities
Stylesheet
Authors must follow the Guidelines for Authors to be downloaded from The Journal for the Philosophy of Language, Mind and the Arts website.
Authors must explicitly state that their work is original in all its parts and that the submitted paper has not been previously published, nor submitted to other journals, until the entire evaluation process is completed. Since no paper gets published without significant revision, earlier dissemination in conference proceedings or working papers does not preclude consideration for publication, but Authors are expected to fully disclose publication/dissemination of the material in other closely related publications, so that the overlap can be evaluated by The Journal for the Philosophy of Language, Mind and the Arts Editor-in-Chief.
Authorship
Authors are strongly encouraged to use their ORCID iD when submitting a manuscript. This will ensure the authors’ visibility and correct citation of their work.
Authorship must be correctly attributed; all those who have given a substantial contribution to the design, organisation and accomplishment of the research the article is based on, must be indicated as Co-Authors. Please ensure that: the order of the author names is correct; the names of all authors are present and correctly spelled, and that affiliations are up-to-date.
The respective roles of each co-author should be described in a footnote. The statement that all authors have approved the final version should be included in the disclosure.
Conflicts of interest and financing
Authors, under their own responsibility, must avoid any conflict of interest affecting the results obtained or the interpretations suggested. The Journal for the Philosophy of Language, Mind and the Arts Editor-in-Chief will give serious and careful consideration to suggestions of cases in which, due to possible conflict of interest, an Author’s work should not be reviewed by a specific scholar. Authors should indicate any financing agency or the project the article stems from.
Quotations
Authors must see to it that all works consulted be properly quoted. If works or words of others are used, they have to be properly paraphrased or duly quoted. Quotations between “double quotes” (or «angled quotation marks» if the text is written in a language other than English) must reproduce the exact wording of the source; under their own responsibility, Authors should carefully refrain from disguising a restyling of the source’s wording, as though it was the original formulation.
Any form of excessive, inappropriate or unnecessary self-citation, as well as any other form of citation manipulation, are strongly discouraged.
Ethical Committee
Whenever required, the research protocols must be authorised in advance by the Ethical Committee of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.
Emendations
When Authors find a mistake or an inaccuracy in their own article, they must immediately warn The Journal for the Philosophy of Language, Mind and the Arts Editor-in-Chief, providing all the information needed to make the due adjustments.
Reviewers’ responsibilities
Goal
By means of the peer-review procedure, reviewers assist The Journal for the Philosophy of Language, Mind and the Arts Editor-in-Chief and Advisory Board in taking decisions on the articles submitted. They are expected to offer the Authors suggestions as to possible adjustments aimed at improving their contribution submission.
Timing and conflicts of interest
If a reviewer does not feel up to the task of doing a given review, or if she/he is unable to read the work within the agreed schedule, she/he should notify The Journal for the Philosophy of Language, Mind and the Arts Editor-in-Chief. Reviewers must not accept articles for which there is a conflict of interest due to previous contributions or to a competition with a disclosed author (or with an author they believe to have identified).
Confidentiality
The content of the reviewed work must be considered confidential and must not be used without explicit authorisation by the Author, who is to be contacted via the editor-in-chief. Any confidential information obtained during the peer review process should not be used for other purposes.
Collaborative attitude
Reviewers should see themselves not as adversaries but as advocates for the field. Any comment must be done in a collaborative way and from an objective point of view. Reviewers should clearly motivate their comments and keep in mind the Golden Rule of Reviewing: “Review for others as you would have others review for you”.
Plagiarism
Reviewers should report any similarity or overlapping of the work under analysis with other works known to them.
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