CALL FOR PAPERS (JOLMA 8 | 1-2 | 2027)
After Wittgenstein: Philosophy and the Arts in Dialogue
Special double issue of JoLMA – Journal for the Philosophy of Language, Mind and the Arts
Editors: Francesco Ragazzi, Elena Valeri
JoLMA – Journal for the Philosophy of Language, Mind and the Arts invites submissions for a special double issue that aims to critically map the ways in which Ludwig Wittgenstein’s philosophy has influenced aesthetics and the arts from the twentieth to the twenty-first century. Contributions addressing the relationship between art and philosophy from a theoretical perspective are also welcome.
Wittgenstein’s reflections on aesthetics and the arts have often proved elusive and complex, not only because of their fragmentary and elliptical character, but also because of the difficulty of situating them within the established traditions of aesthetic thought. Nevertheless, it is widely acknowledged that aesthetic concerns, together with a sustained engagement with art (especially music and poetry) occupy a significant place in Wittgenstein’s philosophy. These concerns can be traced from the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus – where Wittgenstein famously states that “ethics and aesthetics are one” (6.421) – and the writings surrounding its composition, through his philosophical work after 1929, to the remarks he devoted to colour in the final years of his life. Moreover, it has often been noted – sometimes approvingly, at other times critically – that, in reflecting on the aims and methods of his philosophical work, as well as on his philosophical style, Wittgenstein consistently aligns his own practice more with that of the artist than with that of the scientist, or with that of the philosopher who takes science as a model for philosophy, thereby drawing philosophy closer to art and aesthetics.
What is clear and remarkable is the incalculable influence that Wittgenstein’s thought has exerted on aesthetic theory and artistic practices (Carroll 2012). Wittgensteinian notions such as family resemblance (Weitz 1956; Mandelbaum 1965), language-game (Cavell 1969; Hunter 1980), forms of life (Wollheim 1968; Margolis 1999; Cooper 2010), aspect-seeing (McFee 1999), training (Hertzberg 1992; Peters, Stickney 2018), and rule-following (Appelqvist 2013; Sedivy 2014; Wenzel 2016), among others, have been employed in addressing a wide range of questions concerning pictorial representation (Wollheim 1998; Kemp, Mras 2016), aesthetic attitude (Kaidisch 2025), aesthetic judgement (Cavell 1969; Borutti 2013), the definition of art (Danto 1964; Dreon 2019), the ontology of artworks (Goodman 1968; Korsmeyer 1978), and their value (Tilghman 1986).
It is equally remarkable, and amply documented, that many artists have engaged with Wittgenstein’s philosophy across a wide variety of artistic fields: Eduardo Paolozzi (Mantoan, Perissinotto 2019; Valeri 2026), Joseph Kosuth (Vankeerberghen 1989; Bertozzi Castelli 2012), and Bruce Nauman (Ammann 1986) in the visual arts, Yvonne Rainer in dance (Formis 2023), Cornelius Cardew (Pujadas 2018; Cline 2020), Steve Reich (Cowan 1986), and Elisabeth Lutyens (Parsons 1999) in music, Derek Jarman in cinema (Bowell 2001; Burns 2011), Thomas Bernhard (Di Massa 2026), Ingeborg Bachmann (Munz 2024), and Kenneth Goldsmith in literature (Perloff 2015; Goldsmith 2023), to mention only some of the best-known cases.
Despite this extensive body of work, much remains to be said and explored about the relationship between Wittgenstein’s philosophy, its aesthetic dimensions, and art. For this reason, JoLMA is launching a call for papers for the publication of a double issue aimed at mapping the influence Wittgenstein’s thought has had both on aesthetic theory and on contemporary artistic practices. In this context, however, philosophical reflection and artistic practice are not understood as separate domains, but rather as interconnected fields engaged in an ongoing dialogue.
One fundamental set of questions we would like to address is the following: How have artists engaged with Wittgenstein and his thought, and how have they contributed to its interpretation through their works or writings? Conversely, how has post-Wittgensteinian aesthetic theory transformed our understanding of art or of individual artistic disciplines? And, finally, what kind of orientation can Wittgenstein’s philosophy still offer to twenty-first-century aesthetics?
These questions naturally draw our attention to the canon of analytic philosophy and to artistic movements such as Minimalism and Conceptual Art. We nevertheless wonder whether such a relatively circumscribed perspective is the only possible one. For this reason, we also encourage submissions that explore encounters between Wittgenstein’s thought and non-Western philosophies, as well as contributions devoted to non-canonical authors, artists, and intellectual traditions, or to subjects and perspectives that have traditionally been regarded as marginal. We particularly welcome feminist approaches and contributions addressing the work of women philosophers, aestheticians, writers, and artists.
In light of all these premises, JoLMA invites articles addressing the following topics:
a) the relationship between art and philosophy: theoretical approaches;
b) underexplored aspects of Wittgenstein’s thought concerning art and aesthetics or the philosophy of art;
c) Wittgenstein’s philosophy, or individual Wittgensteinian concepts and notions, in contemporary aesthetics and the philosophy of art;
d) the influence of Wittgenstein on art and aesthetics;
e) contemporary art and aesthetics in the light of Wittgenstein;
f) artists (across all artistic disciplines) who have engaged with Wittgenstein’s philosophy;
g) artworks and artifacts that refer to, draw on, or are inspired by Wittgenstein.
Each of the two issues will contain a maximum of eight articles, including invited contributions.
All submissions will be received through a single call for papers closing on April 30th, 2027.
The editors reserve the right to determine how the accepted essays will be distributed between the two issues.
Submission deadline: April 30th, 2027
Notification of acceptance: May 31st, 2027
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’.
Please submit your articles via the ‘Submit’ section of the journal’s website.
Submissions must be suitable for blind review. Each submission should include a brief abstract of no more than 650 words and five keywords for indexing purposes.
A notification of intent to submit, including both a title and a brief summary of the content, would be greatly appreciated, as it will assist the editors in coordinating and planning the double issue.
For any question, please contact the editors: Francesco Ragazzi (francesco.ragazzi@unive.it) and Elena Valeri (elena.valeri@unive.it).
This call for papers is issued within the framework of the WITT-ART – Wittgenstein in Modern and Contemporary Art project (SOE2024_0000148, CUP: H73C24001980001), hosted by Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU – PNRR – Mission 4, Component 2, Investment 1.2.
Bibliography
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Appelqvist, H. (2013). “Wittgenstein and the Limits of Musical Grammar”. The British Journal of Aesthetics, 53(3), 299-319.
Bertozzi Castelli, B. (2012). Joseph Kosuth: Freud, Wittgenstein and Musil. New York: Leo Castelli Gallery.
Borutti, S. (2013). “Wittgenstein’s Concepts for an Aesthetics: Judgment and Understanding of Form”. Aisthesis. Pratiche, linguaggi e saperi dell’estetico, 6(1), 55–66.
Bowell, T. (2001). “Making Manifest: Viewing Wittgenstein’s Philosophy through Derek Jarman’s Lens”. Teaching Philosophy, 24(2), 133-42.
Burns, S. (2011). “The World Hued: Jarman and Wittgenstein on Color”. Szabados, B.; Stojanova, C. (eds). Wittgenstein at the Movies: Cinematic Investigations. Lanham: Lexington Books, 33–48.
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Formis, B. (2023). “Thinking Gestures: On How the Philosophical Conceptualization of Ordinary Life Can Be Shaped by Art Practices”. Open Philosophy, 6(1), 63–70.
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Kaidisch, J. (2025). “Wittgenstein, Danto, and Aesthetic Attitude”. Grazer Philosophische Studien, 101(3), 432-50.
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Mantoan, D.; Perissinotto, L. (eds) (2019). Paolozzi and Wittgenstein: The Artist and the Philosopher. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
McFee, G. (1999). “Wittgenstein on Art and Aspects”. Philosophical Investigations, 22(3), 262-84.
Munz, V. (2024). “Bachmann und Wittgenstein. Versuch einer Annäherung”. Colloquium: New Philologies, 9 (1-2), 54-72.
Parsons, L. (1999). “Music and Text in Elisabeth Lutyens’s Wittgenstein Motet”. Canadian University Music Review, 20(1), 71-100.
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Perloff, M. (2024). “From the Referential to the Relational: Duchamp and Wittgensteinian Family Resemblance”. JoLMA: The Journal for the Philosophy of Language, Mind and the Arts 5, special issue: 123-38.
Peters, M. A.; Stickney, J. (2018). Wittgenstein’s Education: ‘A Picture Held Us Captive’. Singapore: Springer.
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