Special Issue of the journal Phenomenology and Mind

Deadline for paper submission: March 27th, 2019
The issue will be published by December 2019

Call for Papers:

In the common thinking, rules are often considered linguistic entities. However, forms of normativity not necessarily connected with verbal or written language emerge in the social reality. A number of normative phenomena (e.g. folk law, customs, pictorial law, graphic rules, hostile architecture, animal societies) widely described in the literature do not seem to involve the use of words. Indeed, apparently, in these cases, rules have non-lexical nature.

Phenomenology and Mind invites submissions for a special issue dedicated to “Rules without Words: Inquiries into Non-linguistic Normativities”. This special issue aims to bring together researchers from all around the world who focus on non-linguistic rules from different philosophical perspectives: social philosophy, philosophy of law and jurisprudence, epistemology, political philosophy, philosophy of language, media studies, philosophy of architecture, philosophy of design, performance studies, ethology, cognitive science and social psychology, gender studies.

The main purpose of this special issue is to provide a critical overview of some of the most

interesting topics and methodologies from the current philosophical debate, focusing on (but not limited to) the following issues:

  1. Ontology of non-linguistic rules
  • What are the distinctive ontological features of non-linguistic rules?
  • What are the relations between non-linguistic rules and social reality?
  • Are non-linguistic rules essentially connected to human societies or do they regulate the social life of some non-human members of the animal kingdom?
  1. Epistemology of non-linguistic rules
  • What are the distinctive epistemic features of non-linguistic rules?
  • What are the cognitive and psychological aspects of non-linguistic rules?
  • How is it possible to understand a non-linguistic rule?
  • Is it possible to have a normative experience independently from language?
  1. Deontology of non-linguistic rules
  • Do non-linguistic rules contribute to the development or the maintenance of traditional and new social inequalities?
  • What are the seminal cases of non-linguistic rules in disseminating or imposing political and social values and habits?
  • How can non-linguistic rules promote the social good?
  • How do architecture and design shape social reality through the creation of tacit normative social constraints?

Phenomenology and Mind is the Journal of the Faculty of Philosophy of San Raffaele University (Milan). It was founded in 2011 and since then has hosted works of outstanding philosophers. The journal is anonymously peer-reviewed and open-access. We are committed to publishing papers of high academic quality and making them accessible to a wide audience. Submissions from underrepresented groups in philosophy are particularly encouraged.

Confirmed Invited Authors:

Amedeo Giovanni Conte (University of Pavia)

Giuseppe Lorini (University of Cagliari)

Patrick Maynard (University of Western Ontario)

Valeria Bucchetti and Francesca Casnati (Politecnico di Milano, Design Department)

Guest Editors:

Sanja Bojanić (University of Rijeka, Academy of Applied Arts Rijeka, Center for Advanced Studies – Southeastern Europe)

Olimpia Loddo (University of Cagliari)

Marko-Luka Zubčić (University of Rijeka, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Rijeka, Center for Advanced Studies – Southeastern Europe)

Submission Guidelines

Submissions must be prepared for double blind review. Manuscripts – in .doc format – should not contain any identifying information and they cannot exceed 6000 words (references included). Moreover, they must contain:

– An abstract of no more than 150 words,

– The section to which the author(s) wants to contribute to;

– 4/5 keywords.

All manuscripts must be in English.

For stylistic details, see: http://www.fupress.net/public/journals/60/pam_guidelines.pdf;

Submissions should be sent via the Phenomenology and Mind website

(http://www.fupress.net/index.php/pam) by the 27th of March, 2019.

The author should register here and then log in to submit her paper. Please, be sure to register as author in order to submit your paper (flag the option “Author” in your Profile), and to indicate your current affiliation (if applicable).

For information, please contact: phenomenologyandmind@unisr.it

Important dates:

Deadline for submissions: March 27th, 2019 

Notification of acceptance: May 27th, 2019

Publication of the issue: December, 2019