Call for papers for Tetsugaku vol.7

2022.05.27

Call for Papers: Special Issue of Tetsugaku – International Journal of the Philosophical Association of Japan on “Philosophical Practice”

Tetsugaku – International Journal (e-journal) of the Philosophical Association of Japan, calls for papers for the special issue, “Philosophical Practice” (Vol.7, 2023)

In Japan, the term “Philosophical Practice” is used as an umbrella term based on Matthew Lipman’s Philosophy for/with Children (1970s) in conjunction with Gerd Achenbach’s Philosophical Counseling (1980s) and Marc Sautet’s Socrates Cafe (1990s). They are activities that have different historical roots, theoretical background and aims, but what they share in common is that all of them are focusing on non-experts’ engagement in philosophical activity.

Since the beginning of this century, we have been witnessing a growth of philosophical practice across Japan especially in the field of education and civil society, conducted in various forms including philosophical inquiry in school and philosophy cafés, etc. Echoed by such growing public recognition of philosophical practice, the Japanese Society for Philosophical Practice was established in 2018 to further the movement of philosophical practice in Japan.

Broadly construed, philosophical practice is a philosophical and communicative practice going beyond the boundary between experts/non-experts in philosophy, where people (including philosophers, academics, non-academics, children etc.) jointly engage in dialogical activity for inquiring into their common question. In philosophical practice, people are treated as equals before the question they are investigating. These practices are philosophical “practice” often conducted by people with no academic philosophy background. Viewed in this light, however, what is the meaning of “philosophy” in the context of the “philosophical” practice? Thinking about philosophical practice inevitably requires us to engage in a self-reflective inquiry on what philosophy is and ought to be, thereby enabling us to delineate the contour of philosophy.

In the incoming special issue on “philosophy of philosophical practice”, we welcome a wide range of contributions to the field of philosophical practice. The foci of the special issue include, but are not limited to:

What is philosophical practice and what is not?

Who is the philosophical practice for?

Can non-academic philosophers or children do philosophy?

In what sense can philosophical practice produce a caring and therapeutic effect?

What is the meaning of the professionality of philosopher and/or philosophical practitioner?

What is the ethics of philosophical practice?

What are the roles of academic philosophers in a philosophical inquiry?

What is the relationship between dialogue and philosophy?

How can philosophy of dialogue relate to philosophical dialogue?

(Buber, Levinas)How can/should philosophy relate to civil society?

How can/should philosophy contribute to education?

How can philosophical practice contribute to consensus/dissensus making in the public sphere?How inclusive can philosophical practice be?

Can philosophical practice take up the voices of the minorities?

Is philosophical practice possible in an unusual and/or deeply divided situation?

What is the mission of philosophical practice in global society?

What is the role of philosophical practice amid catastrophes, pandemic, and Anthropocene?

[Deadline: 30 October 2022]

To submit your paper, please carefully read our Guidelines for Contributors.

Submission guidelines are available at https://philosophy-japan.org/en/international_journal/guideline-2/


Call for Papers: Special Issue of Tetsugaku: International Journal of the Philosophical Association of Japan on “Philosophy of Catastrophe”

Tetsugaku: The International Journal (e-journal) of the Philosophical Association of Japan, calls for papers for the special issue, “Philosophy of Catastrophe” (Vol. 6, 2022).

“Catastrophe” has ceased to be an object of speculative concern about the end of the world, and instead concerns such events that we witness in our ordinary life and on a worldwide scale, from natural disasters such as earthquakes, drought or inundations, to industrial disasters or other types of crises like the pandemic, climate change, etc. What kind of philosophical reflections are possible for, or required by these events? How can we, warn, prevent, or at least understand such risks? Or should we start by asking “what is Catastrophe itself”? On the other hand, we may say without exaggeration that the history of philosophy is not unrelated to these concerns. Modern western philosophy is said to have begun with the Lisbon Earthquake (1755). From then on, revolutions, exile, world war, extermination camps and nuclear disasters constantly appear throughout the books of philosophers, without even mentioning the “end” inevitable for every one — “death”. We have already some reflections of a Philosophy of “Auschwitz”, or of “Hiroshima” or of “Fukushima”, but now, with COVID-19, it might be no longer be necessary to specify a location and a time, since catastrophe can come anywhere and anytime, Furthermore, it is probable that technological innovation, especially AI and tele-technology, adds some new aspects to what we used to call Catastrophe. Based on this recognition, our special issue seeks to bring forward new understandings and new approaches to the topic of catastrophe. How can we evaluate the concept of catastrophe and other related notions, such as disaster, accident, risk? What can we learn from philosophers on these topics? What is the role of human beings in the age of catastrophes? What kind of philosophical reflections is to be made on concrete catastrophic events? The themes that this special issue covers are as follows (non-exhaustive):

History of the concept of catastrophe / disaster / accident Philosophical analysis of the concept of catastrophe / disaster / accident Philosophical reflections on concrete catastrophic events (natural disaster, industrial disaster, pandemic, climate crisis etc.) Philosophy of the nuclear (weapon or power plants) Ethics in the age of catastrophes Precautionary principle Technology and catastrophe The End of the world

[Deadline: 30 November 2021] To submit your paper, please read carefully our Guidelines for Contributors.

Submission guidelines are available at http://philosophyjapan.org/en/international_journal/guideline/


Call for papers, Special Issue on “Philosophy of Care” of Tetsugaku: International Journal of the Philosophical Association of Japan(closed)

Tetsugaku: The International Journal (e-journal) of the Philosophical Association of Japan, calls for papers for the special issue, “Philosophy of Care” (Vol. 5, 2021).

Philosophy of care was initially proposed by nursing practitioners to grasp their own attitudes in their practices in the 1960s, when paternalism was first being discussed. This line of thought respects the patient’s self-decision, and the issues quickly become complicated. Nurses and medical practitioners face the needs and wants of patients whose capacity of consent is limited. They have strived to establish their own guidelines of care according to their choice among a wide range of moral views. Moreover, consideration of the vulnerable must be included in the deliberation. Society of Hospital Medicine characterizes vulnerable populations as “groups who are at increased risk of receiving a disparity in medical care on the basis of financial circumstances or social characteristics such as age, race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, spirituality, disability, or socioeconomic or insurance status.”

Furthermore, philosophical concerns around care are cast not just against medical care but also against care given during/after disasters, war, industrial and economical restructuring, technology, and any forms of threats which deprive opportunity or capacity to people to decide their own course of life. Thus, the special issue covers the following themes (non-exhaustive):

Philosophy of nursing Philosophy of restorative justice Productivity and successful aging Phenomenological approach to care Philosophy of narratives Philosophy of Disaster Philosophy of War and displacement Feminist ethics Ethics and care in business Ethical concerns on care using artificial intelligence Enhancement vs normalization Philosophical analysis of participatory research

[Deadline: 31 October 2020 6 December 2020] To submit your paper, please read carefully our Guidelines for Contributors.

Submission guidelines are available at http://philosophyjapan.org/en/international_journal/guideline/


Call for papers for Tetsugaku Vol.4, 2020(closed)

Special Issue : “Analytic Asian Philosophy”

Tetsugaku, the International e-Journal of the Philosophical Association of Japan, calls for papers for the special issue, “Analytic Asian Philosophy” (Vol. 4, 2020).

Analytic Asian Philosophy is the emerging filed of philosophy that tries to shed fresh light on Asian philosophy, classical and modern, from perspectives of analytic and other contemporary philosophy, and to create novel philosophical views on the world and ourselves in the age of globalization. It was pioneered by, among others, B. K. Mathilal, an Indian philosopher who attended Quine’s classes when he was educated at Harvard, and much discussed with P. F. Strawson and Dummett when he taught at Oxford. M. Siderits, T. Tillemans, J. Garfield and G. Priest are among present-day leading figures of this field. A number of Asian philosophers of new generation, who were trained in the Anglophone institutions, are following their initiatives. Some of those philosophers have been occasionally applying contemporary logic, classical or non-classical, to make sense Asian thoughts that had appeared to be irrational or even non-sensual. Asian philosophical traditions to be reinterpreted or reconstructed include Hinduism, Buddhism, theravāda or mahayāna, Chinese philosophy such as Confucianism and Daoism, and the Kyoto school of philosophy. This special issue is one of the world’s earliest attempts to feature such innovative topic, expecting the following themes as its main target subjects.

– Reinterpretations of Asian philosophy in its broadest sense, historical or contemporary, from perspectives of analytic and other contemporary philosophy – Original works on various philosophical issues in the analytic style in the broadest sense, that are inspired by Asian philosophy – Contemporary logical reconstruction of Asian logic such as Indian or Buddhistic one – Contemporary linguistic reinterpretation of Asian theories of languages such as Indian grammatical traditions – [Deadline: 30 September 2019 30 November 2019] To submit your paper, please read carefully our Guidelines for Contributors.


Call for papers for Tetsugaku Vol.3, 2019 (closed)Spring

Special Issue : “Japanese Philosophy”

Tetsugaku, the International e-Journal of the Philosophical Association of Japan, calls for papers for the special issue, “Japanese Philosophy” (Vol. 3, 2019).

In Japan, the field of philosophy was established in the second half of the 19th century, alongside the assimilation of Western philosophy. The development of this new field, however, did not mean a discontinuation with the scholarship and thought of the pre-Meiji period. Rather, Japanese philosophy developed through taking up traditions such as Confucianism and Buddhism and reflecting on them in a critical manner. It is not possible to specify exactly when the field bearing the title of Japanese Philosophy (Nihon Tetsugaku) appeared, however Nishida Kitarō, the leading figure of the Kyoto school, wrote in 1944 that: “I hope that in respect to philosophy, Japan will in the future manage to develop a grand Japanese philosophy.” From the war years onwards, research in Japanese philosophy has been closely tied to the thinking of the Kyoto School. However, this still young academic field has enjoyed significant growth in recent years, particularly abroad. Today, we see the development of a variety of approaches, as well as an increasing amount of research focusing on topics other than the Kyoto School. In this special issue, we wish to highlight this energetic global academic environment for research in Japanese philosophy, drawing attention to some of the latest work that is now taking place. Please consider submitting papers which engage in the following topics:

  • Japanese Philosophy of the Meiji and Taishō periods
  • Historical investigations into Japanese philosophy
  • Philosophy of the Kyoto School
  • Japanese philosophy and war, ideology
  • Comparative research – Japanese philosophy and East Asian philosophy (comparisons with Buddhism, Confucianism, etc.)
  • Comparative research – Japanese philosophy and Western philosophy
  • Investigations into language, culture and art in Japanese philosophy
  • Theories of the body, technology, and science in Japanese philosophy
  • Logic in Japanese philosophy
  • Beauty and Aesthetics in Japanese philosophy
  • Theories of time in Japanese philosophy

    [Deadline: 30 September 2018] To submit your paper, please read carefully our Guidelines for Contributors.

Call for papers  Tetsugaku Vol.2, 2018 (closed)

Special theme: Philosophy and translation

Tetsugaku, the International e-Journal of the Philosophical Association of Japan, calls for papers for the special issue, “Philosophy and translation” (Vol. 2, 2018).

The history of philosophy, East and West, is inseparable from questions of translation. The issues of translation range from its literal, conventional sense of interlinguistic conversion, to a much broader, cross-cultural and intracultural endeavour. Translation can also function between academic disciplines. Across this broad range, the scope of translation opens diverse paths in the crossing of borders. Translation can be seen as a window through which to reconsider the task of philosophy today. We can also use different prepositions to mark different aspects of the juncture between philosophy and translation: philosophy of translation, philosophy in translation, philosophy as translation.

Philosophical papers reflecting on translation in relation to the following sub-themes are welcome:

– Historical examination of philosophy and translation

– Linguistic analysis of translation

– Translation in relation to particular philosophical approaches (analytical, continental, pragmatist, etc.)

– Translation as an intralinguistic issue (translation as internal to the nature of language)

– Translation and the substance of comparative philosophy

– Translation as related to cross-cultural communication

– Philosophy, translation and human transformation

– Translation and the crossing of philosophical divides (for example, the continental and the analytical)

– Political implications of philosophy and translation

– Translation, the internationalization of higher education and the role of philosophy

 [Deadline:  30 September 2017]

To submit your paper, please read carefully our  Guidelines for Contributors.

Call for papers  Tetsugaku Vol.1, 2017 (closed)

Special theme: Philosophy and the University

Philosophy has played an essential part in academics and education in universities, which were born in the medieval Europe, introduced into Japan and other Asian countries in the late 19th century, and are now spread all over the world. While the idea of a university has been discussed by many philosophers, including Kant, Fichte, W. von Humboldt, Hegel, Newman, Heidegger, Jaspers, Habermas and Derrida, our contemporary societies cast serious doubts on the ideals and roles of the university and philosophy.

With this critical situation in mind, we invite academic papers on the theme of “philosophy and the university” for our new E-journal. The following questions, for example, can be asked.

What is the situation of philosophy in the universities around the world today? How did philosophers examine the ideas of the university? What is the ideal form of a university from a philosophical point of view? What can and should philosophy do in and for the university?

Deadline:  31 October 2016

tetsugakuvol1