Nóema – Online Journal of Philosophy (https://riviste.unimi.it/
General Theme
Why should we read Whitehead again today? And especially Process and Reality, published exactly ninety years ago?
The new Italian translation of Process and Reality (Processo e realtà, edited by M.R. Brioschi, Introduction by L. Vanzago, Bompiani – Il pensiero occidentale, Milan 2019) is now out, making Whitehead’s thought accessible again to the Italian public in its most daring and complex expression, more than fifty years after the first Italian translation by Nynfa Bosco. In conjunction with this event, Nóema dedicates an issue to the rediscovery of this brilliant and multifaceted author, whose philosophical ideas continue to attract increasing interest, due to their boldness and current relevance. Indeed, the great potential of Whitehead’s thought is still far from being exhausted: consider for instance his radical re-examination of knowledge on emotional bases, the reflection on the post-Newtonian science and its methods, his non-individualistic conception of the “self,” together with his plural and anti-specist ethics, or still the ecological implications of his reflection, and his cogitations on the future development of civilization.
More in detail, Process and Reality (1929) is based off the development of the Gifford Lectures delivered at Edinburgh in 1927-28, and is considered Whitehead’s philosophical masterpiece. On the whole, it represents the radical effort to formulate a scheme of ideas which can interpret every factor of experience, so to grasp it in its own totality. Similarly, as the subtitle “An Essay in Cosmology” suggests, Process and Reality aims to include every element of the universe, lato sensu: from the minimal forms of life to larger, organized societies, God included. In this way, Whitehead has inaugurated one of the most original metaphysical perspectives of the 20th century – one that does not fear any confrontation with other great philosophers of Western Thought, nor with sciences. On the contrary, it is through a close comparison with scientific achievements and discoveries of his times (i.e., relativity, quantum physics and biology among others), that Whitehead has come to elaborate his so-called “philosophy of organism,” since according to him the whole reality must be understood as bios, life in the making.
We encourage submissions of essays and articles related to Process and Reality and the following topics:
- Whitehead and the thought of practices: similarities and differences between Whitehead and pragmatism and/or post-structuralist philosophies.
- The logic of the event: theory of experience and philosophy of language.
- Aesthetics and philosophy of creativity.
- Philosophy of organism: evolution, ecology, and environmental ethics.
- Philosophy of process, self, and society.
- Whitehead and the sciences: mathematics, physics, biology, economics, and pedagogy.
Guidelines for submitting papers
- For submitting articles, see “the authors guidelines” (https://riviste.unimi.it/
index.php/noema/information/ authors), and register on the website (https://riviste.unimi.it/ index.php/noema/user/register) . - Every article must be anonymous (no name or affiliation written on the paper), with the title only.
- During the online submission process, the author is requested to also upload an abstract of the article (MAX 1000 characters), and 5-10 keywords.
- Articles and related materials may be uploaded until the deadline of June 1, 2020, in one of the following formats: .doc, .docx, .odt.
- Usually 2-3 weeks after submitting a proposal, the author will receive via e-mail a notification that the paper has been provisionally accepted and will go under a double process of blind review.
- On average, the publication of each article takes about three months after the beginning of the peer-review procedures.
For further information, please visit Nóema’s website (Nóema) or contact the journal here: rivista.noema@gmail.com