CfP: The Epistemology of Narrative Knowledge - Rivista di Estetica
The Epistemology of Narrative Knowledge
Advisory editors: Erica Onnis (University of Turin), Sarah Worth (Furman University)
Deadline: March 15th, 2024
Historically, human beings have been variously characterised as “social”, “political”, “rational”, or “economic” animals. Recently, another definition has presented them as “storytelling animals” belonging to the species Homo fictus, the “great ape with the storytelling mind” (Gottshall, J., The Storytelling Animal, p. 10).
Humans do love to tell stories, but storytelling is not only an amusing and entertaining activity, nor a peculiar and more or less successful style of communication. Stories play fundamental epistemological roles. They help humans in organising and understanding the complex dynamics in which they live; they provide a structure to facts and ideas that would otherwise remain separated; they encode a form of knowledge that is easy to remember and enables action; they describe the world without defining it. The universal scope of this human disposition and the epistemic consequences of understanding reality through stories require a deep philosophical analysis. What can be called “narrative knowledge” appears to involve facts and events, but also agents and motives, being based on empirical evidence but also background assumptions and personal beliefs. It is a participatory, interpretative, situated knowledge tied to particular points of view, and for these reasons, its epistemic content is close to the individual and salient from a cognitive and emotional point of view.
This issue of Rivista di Estetica welcomes submissions about the following – and related – topics:
- Epistemological features characterising narrative knowledge
- Differences between narrative knowledge and philosophical/scientific knowledge;
- Narrative knowledge in the history of philosophy;
- Narrative knowledge and criminology;
- Narrative knowledge and cultural knowledge;
- Narrative knowledge and the genre of memoir;
- Potentials of narrative knowledge in dealing with the global challenges that present generations are facing (e.g., climate change, social inequalities, political instabilities);
- Potentials of narrative knowledge in benefiting historical knowledge, as with oral histories.
Submissions must be written in English and prepared for blind review. They must not exceed 40,000 characters. The evaluation will follow a double-blind process.
In order to submit your paper, please register and login to: http://labont.it/estetica/index.php/rivistadiestetica/login
When asked “What kind of file is this”, select the relevant CFP.
For any question, please contact Erica Onnis and rivistadiestetica@gmail.com