On the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the birth of Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten, Philosophica will devote a special issue to his philosophical thought.
The idea of aesthetics as the science of sensory cognition proposed by Baumgarten in 1735 was almost immediately relegated to the status of curiosity and has been neglected by a tradition focused in the philosophy of art, which considered Hegel as its mentor. Fearing an elusive and subjective approach that could menace its philosophical status, analytic aesthetics refused to endorse the idea of an academic discipline concerned with sensory perception and experience. In the last years, however, Baumgarten’s perspective has been revived not only by contemporary trends in aesthetics, such as neuroaesthetics, somaesthetics or everyday aesthetics, but also by new approaches within other philosophical branches, such as metaphysics, gnoseology or phenomenology. This revival attests the significance of Baumgarten’s legacy to the current expansion of the aesthetic field, three centuries after his effort to delimitate the concept and propose it as a new discipline with philosophical legitimacy.
Contributions concerning any aspect of Baumgarten’s work, theoretical predecessors or influence in modern and contemporary philosophy are welcome.
Manuscripts submitted for inclusion in this special issue must be original work and should not be under consideration with any other journal. They should have a maximum of 50.000 characters (with spaces) in length, including references and endnotes. Manuscripts should be prepared for blind review and be accompanied by an abstract of no more than 150 words.
Authors should adhere to the Journal’s publication guidelines – http://revistaphilosophica.weebly.com/submissions.html
Full paper submission is due by 15 April through the following email address: philosophica[@]fl.ul.pt
Standard peer review process will be followed.
Final decisions are expected by 31 July.
Accepted manuscripts will be published by the end of 2014.