New Encounters Between Philosophy and Literature II

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue plans to continue and develop the theme of “New Encounters Between Philosophy and Literature.” The first Special Issue on this topic brought together ten essays, ranging from texts examining this topic in Ancient Chinese thought to essays on Benjamin, Fanon, empire, metaphor, avant-garde poetry, and even The Hunger Games. Although it can be argued that the tension between philosophy and literature is intrinsically Western--pace Plato, who mentions the then already “old” quarrel between philosophy and poetry—it nonetheless provides a productive frame for questioning such fundamental terms as ”experience,” “reality,” “truth,” and their different articulations in diverse traditions. It also focuses on language and the discursive forms that make possible experience and understanding of reality. In the West, this ancient, often tense relation between philosophy and literature assumed various forms from Renaissance humanism and the Enlightenment, through the revolt of Romanticism and the systematic ambitions of German Idealism, to the more recent reconsideration of this relationship through the prism of phenomenology or poststructuralism. This second Special Issue raises, once again, the question of how our notions of what counts as literature, of what counts as philosophy, might change when we step outside the confines of the West and its tradition(s), and compare them to other cultures. We are especially interested in how the intersection between philosophy and literature facilitates not only the critique of the West but also intercultural dialogue.  Can this intersection become a fruitful place for critical engagement with globalization and its forms of technological and economic power? This Special Issue of Humanities aims at the reappraisal of this contested “between” of literature and philosophy, West and “non-West,” in the context of the globalized and multi-cultural world of the 21st century and the increasing pressure of the technocratic society and global operations of capital on the humanities. Not simply humanities as a discipline but humanities as a way of thinking—of reflection, even meditation, and thus also critique, non-conformism, and challenge to normative and normalizing tendencies—that is increasingly contested and marginalized by the thought of efficiency, measures and assessment, preconceived norms and criteria, etc. We invite contributions that expressly investigate this encounter between literature and philosophy from the following, though not exclusive, perspectives: Western and non-Western cultures; ancient, modern, or contemporary societies; comparative contexts; language and translation; aesthetics, truth, event; race and gender theory. While all these approaches are welcome, this time we hope to elicit submissions also from perspectives not represented in the first issue: African thought and literature, Eastern European cultures, Islamic cultures, the Middle East, and Latin America and decolonial critique.

Prof. Dr. Krzysztof Ziarek
Guest Editor

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• literature
• philosophy
• critique of globalization
• non-western and western worlds
• language
• poetics
• event
• power
• technology
• humanities