Supported by the 糖心视频 and jointly hosted by Guildford School of Acting and the Centre for Translation Studies at the University of Surrey.

Strategies to make performing arts events accessible to disabled audiences have been developed and increasingly deployed in recent decades: these include audio description for blind and partially sighted audiences and the use of captioning and sign language interpreting for those who are deaf and hard-of-hearing. These intermedial practices raise many interesting philosophical questions and pose challenges for theorizing in aesthetics and philosophy of art. In exploring audience engagement (actual or ideal), philosophy has tended to focus on normative spectators/listeners without considering how a person鈥檚 degree of sight and/or hearing impacts access to, appreciation and evaluation of performance in its many forms and theorizing about such phenomena.

This symposium seeks to address these questions and challenges, promoting dialogue between philosophers, performing artists, access practitioners and audiences. The organisers invite abstracts for presentations on topics related to our central theme, including but not limited to the following:

• Cross-modal perception and meaning-making in the performing arts
• Artistic medium, meaning and aesthetic impact in the practice and reception of intermedial translation
• Implications of access practices such as audio description for debates about aesthetic testimony, the acquaintance principle and aesthetic evaluation
• Implications of access practices for thinking about (the heresy of) paraphrase and ineffability
• Aesthetic community, engagement and participation for disabled and non-disabled people
• Accessibility and aesthetic justice, including connections with disability justice
• How to (best) conceptualise access practices: as translation, remediation, re-performance, or in some other way?
• Aesthetic and/or ontological implications of creative approaches to integrating audio description, sign language interpreting and captioning into performance
• Philosophies of blindness, deafness and disability and their potential to illuminate the performing arts

Invited speakers: Amelia Lander-Cavallo (Quiplash), Josefa MacKinnon (Royal Shakespeare Company), Jenny Stewart-Cosgrove (Audio Describer), Rebecca Wallbank (Uppsala University) and Ken Wilder (University of the Arts, London).

The organisers invite submission of abstracts / proposals of 300-500 words by email to ku520uy@surrey.ac.uk (to which address any queries about the event can also be directed). The deadline for proposals is Friday 30th January 2026. Those submitting will be notified of decisions by 25^th February. There will be no conference fees.

Conference organizers / programme committee: Robert Shaughnessy (GSA/University of Surrey), Anna Pakes (University of Roehampton), Sabine Braun (CTS, University of Surrey) and Hetty Blades (Falmouth University).

Guest Editor: Alexander Wil铿乶g (Austrian Academy of Sciences)

Estetika: The European Journal of Aesthetics invites submissions for a special issue on Eduard Hanslick鈥檚 seminal treatise On the Musically Beautiful (1854). Con铿乺med contributors to the special issue are Jane Hines (University of Cambridge) and Stephen Hinton (Stanford University).

Even after more than a century of sustained research, Hanslick鈥檚 On the Musically Beautiful (OMB) continues to challenge musicologists and philosophers of music alike. This special issue welcomes contributions addressing a broad range of questions about the origins, reception, and philosophical interpretation of Hanslick鈥檚 aesthetics.

Regarding historical in铿倁ences and aesthetic context, contributors might explore what sources of inspiration Hanslick drew upon in formulating the basic tenets of OMB. Did he engage directly with central 铿乬ures of nineteenth-century thought such as Bernard Bolzano, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Immanuel Kant, and Friedrich Theodor Vischer, or did he o铿�er an eclectic synthesis of contemporary in铿倁ences?

Questions of reception and legacy remain equally compelling. How were Hanslick鈥檚 ideas received by later aesthetic theorists such as Theodor W. Adorno, Roman Ingarden, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Ludwig Wittgenstein, whose work arguably exhibits traces of his supposed formalism? What transformations or critiques did his ideas undergo in subsequent aesthetic discourse?

The text of OMB itself raises persistent interpretative challenges. Did Hanslick allow for emotional expression in music, and if so, what kind? Did he identify the musical 鈥榳ork鈥� with the score, or did he consider auditory elements and performance essential to aesthetic judgment? Did he re铿俥ct on the historical dimension of music and musical beauty, or did he endorse an ahistorical formalism? Finally, does OMB present an inherently consistent argument, or does it contain theoretical tensions that may account for both the longevity and diverse interpretations of this work?

Contributions addressing these and related questions are warmly invited, providing fruitful avenues for both historical and systematic approaches to OMB. Submissions should not exceed 8,500 words (including footnotes and bibliography), must be written in English, and should be prepared for anonymous peer review. For detailed formatting guidelines, please consult the journal鈥檚 website.

Articles must be submitted by October 15, 2026, via https://estetikajournal.org. The special issue is planned for publication in September 2027. If you have any questions, please contact the editors.

Estetika is a leading journal for philosophical aesthetics in Europe, indexed in Web of Science and ranked Q1 in Philosophy, Literature and Literary Studies, and Visual Arts and Performing Arts. It is a diamond open access, non-pro铿乼 journal supported by Charles University in Prague and Helsinki University Press.

Supported by a 糖心视频 Small Grant

Organisers:

Lead: Vanessa Brassey (King鈥檚 College London, Centre for Philosophy & Art)
Advisory: Sacha Golob (King鈥檚 College London)
Advisory: Derek Matravers (The Open University)
Institutional affiliations: King鈥檚 College London; Centre for Philosophy & Art (); 糖心视频; GLAM sector.

Overview

From oral dialogue to print, to broadcast, and now digital media, new technology reshapes how philosophical ideas are formatted. Although film-based research is increasingly recognised as a rigorous scholarly format, many philosophers lack the training and resources needed to use moving-image production to extend the reach and clarity of their work.

This project offers researchers the opportunity to develop a short research film or video essay with an experienced production team, funded by the 糖心视频. Films will be approximately 10 minutes (or shorter). No prior experience in film or media production is required.

The production team (Vanessa Brassey and Jenny Bell) will produce the films and support selected researchers step by step through the process of:

1. Concept development

2. Scripting and budgets

3. Filming

4. Editing

5. Output formatting

Selected participants will be required to take part in an online masterclass reflecting on the process later in the year. This class will be advertised separately and will be open to all researchers.

Distribution

Completed films will be available open access, hosted via the Centre for Philosophy and Art, and shared through YouTube and 糖心视频 channels. All films will include subtitles and full transcripts for accessibility. 

Theme

The theme of the Open Call is 鈥淎 New Philosophical Perspective on Art鈥�, where 鈥榓rt鈥� is understood broadly to encompass both visual and narrative media.

We are particularly interested in contributions that turn on a clean, focused philosophical move, for example:

鈥� a neat logical insight

鈥� a counterexample that unsettles a familiar assumption

鈥� the identification of a previously overlooked problem

鈥� a claim defended with elegant precision

鈥� a clarification that brings unexpected simplicity to a difficult idea

Topics for Submission

Submissions should address any of the following themes in an artistic context:

representation and depiction;

emotions and their expression;

space and time;

memory, dreams and related mental states;

perspectives and perspective taking.

Key Dates

Given the collaborative nature of the project, the selection process will take place in two stages, allowing room for the practical demands of filming and production.

The proposed schedule is:

鈥� Call for Papers: opens December 2025; deadline 15 January 2026

鈥� Notification of Shortlist: end January 2026, 

鈥� Online Meetings with shortlist candidates: early February 2026

鈥� Notification to participants: end February 2026, 

鈥� Scripting & Filming window: April鈥揗ay 2026

鈥� Edited films completed: Summer 2026

鈥� Masterclass online workshop session: Autumn 2026

How to Submit

We invite proposals rather than full papers. Submissions must include:

鈥� Title;

鈥� Abstract (approx. 200 words);

鈥� A concise statement of the argument (this can be one line each for premises and conclusion with a short introductory paragraph, (when submitted as a prose max 350 words);

鈥� A short contextual paragraph (max 150 words) outlining the debate you are engaging with, how your proposal sits within or departs from work in related disciplines, and any artworks essential to your discussion;

鈥� Eight keywords;

鈥� A brief researcher biography (maximum 100 words);

Please submit your proposal as a Word document or PDF to:vanessa.1.brassey[at]

Eligibility

The opportunity is open to PhD students, early-career researchers, and established academics. We aim to ensure that the workshop reflects the breadth of researchers working in the field, and we actively welcome submissions from groups underrepresented in philosophy, including those who are BAME, disabled, trans or non-binary, from low-income backgrounds, or first-generation university attendees.

Diversity considerations will inform decisions at each stage of selection and planning. Graduate and early-career researchers who require travel support are encouraged to apply to the 糖心视频 Travel Stipend scheme; where applicants have already used the annual allowance or are unsuccessful, limited support may be available through this project.

Enquiries: vanessa.1.brassey[at]

The Team

Vanessa Brassey (KCL)

Vanessa Brassey spent many years in corporate and commercial branding and creative production. She completed her PhD at King鈥檚 College London in 2020, became a Lecturer in the department, was the 糖心视频 Fellow in 2022鈥�23, and has been Director of the Centre for Philosophy and Arts since 2021. Her research focuses on emotional expression in art, with emphasis on imagination and emotional perspective. She is published in several peer-reviewed journals, and edited a collection for Routledge on The Expression of Emotion in the Visual Arts (2025). She has produced short-form philosophy films for The National Gallery, three one-hour specials on Time and Beauty, and an animated explanation of Richard Wollheim鈥檚 theory of expression. She will lead on production, administration, and participant support.

Sacha Golob (KCL)

An internationally recognised expert on post-Kantian philosophy and Co-Editor of the British Journal for the History of Philosophy, Sacha Golob has published over 40 peer-reviewed articles and is author of a monograph on Heidegger (CUP) and the forthcoming Cambridge Handbook of Continental Philosophy. He co-directs the Centre for Philosophy and Art and is collaborating with the Francis Bacon Estate on a phenomenological study of Bacon鈥檚 work.

Derek Matravers (Open University; Cambridge)

Professor of Philosophy at The Open University and Extraordinary Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge, Derek Matravers鈥� books include Art and Emotion (OUP, 1998), Introducing Philosophy of Art (Routledge, 2013), Fiction and Narrative (OUP, 2014), and, with Helen Frowe, Stones and Lives: The Ethics of Protecting Heritage in War(OUP, 2024). He co-edits The British Journal of Aesthetics.

Jenny Bell (Envis Media)

Our preferred video-production partner, with extensive experience producing philosophy films as well as hundreds of commercial works. Director Jen Bell has over seventeen years鈥� experience in filming and editing, specialising in storytelling and visual clarity. Her work is known for its collaborative and highly personal approach.

Firm deadline for submissions: 15th听June 2026
Please adhere to the deadline as we are on a strict production schedule.

Guest Editors:
Peg Brand Weiser (Indiana University, Emerita)
Sukhvinder Shahi (University of Arizona)
Ritwik Agrawal (University of Arizona)

Call for Papers:
This special issue invites work that treats art not as an object of 鈥渄isinterested鈥� contemplation but as a site of action, coalition, and world-making across borders. We seek contributions that show what transnational feminisms and the arts can do鈥攍inking artistic practice to pedagogy, advocacy, and solidarity, and developing intersectional analysis tracking gender, race, class, nation, ecology, and power. Building on Marsha Meskimmon鈥檚 call to couple theory and practice (2020), the issue aims to decolonize methods and canons by working with and through artists, critics, theorists, and philosophers across regions and traditions.

The guest editors invite philosophical papers discussing topics that include but are not limited to:

• How has feminist aesthetics described/reinscribed basic notions such as 鈥渁rt,鈥� 鈥渁rtist,鈥� 鈥渁rtwork,鈥� 鈥渁rtworld,鈥� 鈥減erception,鈥� 鈥渋nterpretation,鈥� 鈥渃reativity,鈥� and 鈥渁esthetic value鈥�?
• How has the study of art by other cultures and traditions鈥攅.g., Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Islamic, African, Subaltern, etc.鈥攂een realized within philosophical aesthetics?
• Does philosophical aesthetics admit of feminisms, much less transnational feminisms?
• How does adopting a disinterested stance preclude transnational feminist praxis and activism?
• Is there a feminist conception of the use of artificial intelligence, generative language models, and associated technologies in art making practices?
• Reflections on feminist perspectives on the 鈥渞ight to sex鈥� (Srinivasan 2022) and its relation to depictions of women on dating apps and platforms such as 鈥淥nly Fans鈥�.
• The analysis of Deepfakes, Sexbots, and Digital Companions that present complex issues that intersect with feminist concerns about objectification, consent, and the portrayal of women in society.
• Philosophical reflections on depiction of feminity and sexuality in popular media, including streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, and in cinema, with a special focus on the increasing prominence of women of colour.
• Feminist conceptual art that emerged as a response to the male-dominated sphere of conceptual art and the broader socio-political landscape that often marginalized or ignored women’s experiences and contributions.
• Reflections on Women and LGTBQ+ artists who have addressed issues of objectification, beauty standards, and bodily autonomy, often using their own bodies as mediums or subjects of their art to reclaim the narrative around the female form.
• The work of artists who have focused on the domestic sphere, highlighting the undervaluation of women’s labour in both artistic and domestic contexts. This includes the use of materials traditionally associated with women’s work, such as textiles, and techniques deemed as craft rather than high art.

Papers should conform to the usual  and be submitted for consideration through  by June 15th, 2026. All submissions will undergo blind review.

Enquires should be directed to bjafeministaesthetics@gmail.com

Dr Christopher Earley (Edinburgh)听
“Art and the Aesthetics of Inquiring”

Wednesday 26th听November 2025
4:10-5:30pm
John Percival Building, Room 3.47, Cardiff University

All Welcome!

Abstract

Philosophers of art often argue that there is a close relation between an artwork鈥檚 cognitive value and its aesthetic value. Typically, they do so by demonstrating how experiencing the aesthetic features of an artwork alters our understanding of a particular aspect of the world. I argue for an alternative way of understanding this relationship. I propose that, due to the collaborative nature of inquiry in the arts, artworks often prompt audiences to appreciate the aesthetic qualities of their own acts of inquiring. I put forward an account of how one can aesthetically experience one鈥檚 own epistemic agency, how these aesthetic experiences might help enhance our epistemic standing, and, in doing so, aim to shed light on an understudied yet highly significant aspect of art appreciation.

Recording

The organisers aim to record the talk and听make it available through their website for anyone who can鈥檛 make it. However, please bear with them while we are changing websites.

Dinner & Drinks

After the talk, they鈥檒l head for a drink, followed by dinner. The British Society of听Aesthetics听has agreed to cover dinner expenses for听up to two students. Students who are interested in this opportunity are invited to contact the organiser (dixond7@cardiff.ac.uk). Anyone else who鈥檇 like to join, please also email.听Please let the organisers know if you鈥檇 like听to join for dinner听by 5pm on Monday 24th November.

The Inter-University Centre in Dubrovnik, Croatia hosts a large number of conferences in a wide variety of disciplines each year, bringing together scholars from Europe, North America, and further afield. In April 2026, the organisers shall be holding the twelfth in vivo Dubrovnik Conference on the Philosophy of Art. The dates for the 2026 meetings are 13^th to 17^th April, and the conference directors are David Collins (Cambridge), David Davies (McGill), Jason Gaiger (Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, Oxford), Bozidar Kante (Maribor), Anna Pakes (Roehampton), and Iris Vidmar (Rijeka). The organisers welcome proposals for presentations ranging across the full range of issues in the philosophy of art and aesthetics. On the middle day of the conference (15^th April), there will be presentations on a selected theme with invited participants.

The conference runs along similar lines to the Dubrovnik Philosophy of Science Conference also held in April each year. This means that the organisers shall not be asking those wishing to attend for copies of their papers in advance, but they do ask for a title and a brief abstract by March 13^th at the latest, and earlier if possible. They鈥檒l notify all those who provide abstracts and titles as to whether their proposals have been accepted within a couple of days of that deadline, and earlier in the case of submissions received before the deadline. They can also provide, if requested, formal letters of invitation for those whose submissions have been accepted 鈥� these may be helpful in obtaining funding from institutions or granting agencies. A draft of the programme will be circulated to participants in the weeks prior to the conference, allowing for adjustments to be made if necessary to accommodate the schedules of those arriving late or departing early. There will be five or six sessions each day, with a lengthy lunch break (up to 3 hours) to allow participants to continue their discussions at a restaurant or other place of hostelry in the Old Town, or to explore the city. Presentations in regular sessions should be no longer than 40 minutes, allowing 20 minutes for discussion. Graduate students and those wishing to present shorter papers can give 20 minute presentations, with ten minutes for discussion, with two such events taking up a single one-hour slot in the programme.

The organisers are unfortunately not able to pay any expenses for participants, but hope this will not prove too much of a discouragement. Participants should be able to obtain reasonable accommodation at hotels frequented by other participants at IUC conferences 鈥� details can be provided to those interested. Apartment accommodation听in the Old Town is also available at a very reasonable cost. There will be a small conference fee (around 85 Euros, they will try to cover this for students) in order to cover their obligations to the IUC for the use of the conference centre.

If you are interested in participating in the conference, please send a title and a brief abstract to David Davies at david.davies@mcgill.ca by March 13^th 2026 at the latest. For further information, or if you are interested in attending, but not presenting at, the conference, please also contact David Davies at the same e-address.

For updates, you can also follow on:

Bluesky – @dbphilart.bsky.social
LinkedIn – 听

Wednesday 15th October 2025

4:10-5:30pm

John Percival Building, Room 2.03, Cardiff University

All Welcome!

Abstract

Might my love of Picasso make me a better partner? Can practicing aesthetic appreciation improve my capacity for loving attention in my relationships? The stalwart critics of moralism have long argued that artworks don鈥檛 have much of a moral impact on us, and avid consumers of art rarely turn out to be 鈥榖etter鈥� people. Why think art would make us better lovers? Drawing on Iris Murdoch鈥檚 work, this paper centres on one answer to this question: namely that aesthetic appreciation and loving attention have much in common. We should, in some ways, treat our loved ones as works of art. Just as aesthetic appreciation is guided by detail, so love鈥檚 work lies in responding to the particularities of a person.  

Recording

We aim to record the talk and make it available through our website for anyone who can鈥檛 make it. However, please bear with us while we are changing websites.

Dinner & Drinks

After the talk, we鈥檒l head for a drink, followed by dinner. 糖心视频 has generously agreed to cover dinner expenses for up to two students. Students who are interested in this opportunity are invited to contact the organiser (dixond7@cardiff.ac.uk).

*** TheWelsh Aesthetics Forum | Fforwm Estheteg Cymru is made possible through the support of the 糖心视频 ***

Department of Music, Dublin City University; Thursday and Friday, 9^th-10^th 2026

Call for Papers for Themed Sessions

Themed Sessions invite papers centred on a shared topic. These sessions run in addition to Free Paper Sessions and Associate Sessions. The MPSG committee and the session convenors invite proposals for 20-minute (in person) papers related to the three Themed Sessions below.

To propose a paper, please send a paper title and abstract of no more than 350 words to the session convenor by the deadline of Friday 31^st October. The decision regarding the acceptance of proposals will be communicated in December.

Themed Session 1: 鈥�Recession Pop: Music in the Ruins of Neoliberalism鈥�

Session convenor: Dr Jacob Downs (jacob.downs@music.ox.ac.uk)

What happens to commercial music when economies collapse? To speak of music 鈥榠n the ruins of neoliberalism鈥� (Brown 2019) is to register a contemporary world in which the economic and cultural project of neoliberal capitalism has buckled but not fallen. While the 2008 financial crash and its aftermath certainly exposed neoliberalism鈥檚 contradictions, its familiar infrastructures鈥攑recarious labour, financial volatility, and austerity鈥攅ndure: too broken to function, yet too entrenched to dismantle. We might say that neoliberalism persists today as a cultural wasteland of hollowed-out futures, littered with the debris of capitalist realism (Fisher 2009).

Pop music made during and soon after the crash often registered these conditions. Hits such as Kesha鈥檚 鈥楾iK ToK鈥�, Lady Gaga鈥檚 鈥楯ust Dance鈥�, and the Black Eyed Peas鈥� 鈥業 Gotta Feeling鈥� offered alcohol-drenched anthems of excess鈥攕ongs of abandon launched into a world of foreclosures and lay-offs. A decade later, a second wave has emerged: Gaga and Kesha have returned with an updated sound, joined by newcomers: Charli XCX, flaunting hedonism edged with exhaustion; PinkPantheress, pulling hooks from the vestiges of UK garage; Chappell Roan, staging extravagance as both mask and release; and many more. This new wave is haunted by Y2K aesthetics鈥攕hiny surfaces and millennial optimism recycled just as their promises of prosperity ring most hollow. Why this return, and why now? What futures, if any, can pop sound in these ruins?

This session positions recession pop as a category demanding conceptual labour in the form of interventions that mobilize continental philosophy, critical theory, and related traditions to interrogate its aesthetics and politics. What is recession pop? What does it mean for pop music to aestheticize austerity, to recycle its past, or to imagine futurity from within collapse? How might we grasp the contradictory pleasures and anxieties encoded in recession pop? And what, if anything, can this music tell us about the possibility of survival, critique, and speculative futures in the ruins of neoliberalism?

Themed Session 2: 鈥楳usic and Philosophy Studies in Contemporary China: Dialogue between West and East鈥�

Session convenor: Prof. Luna Sun (sunyue@shcmusic.edu.cn)

In recent decades, the field of music and philosophy has undergone significant expansion worldwide, and China has become an increasingly dynamic participant in these conversations. The session 鈥淢usic and Philosophy Studies in Contemporary China: Dialogue between West and East鈥� seeks to explore the distinctive approaches, methodologies, and theoretical frameworks emerging from Chinese scholarship, as well as the interactions between global traditions and local intellectual resources.

Music and philosophy in China today unfold across multiple dimensions: the re-reading of classical Chinese thought (Confucian, Daoist, Buddhist) in relation to aesthetics of sound and musical practice; the reception and transformation of Western philosophical perspectives (from Kant and Hegel to Nietzsche, Adorno, and contemporary theorists); and the interdisciplinary dialogues between philosophy, musicology, cultural studies, and aesthetics. By addressing these areas, the session aims to highlight both the continuities with Chinese intellectual traditions and the creative innovations arising from the country鈥檚 rapidly changing cultural and academic environment. We are enthusiastically expecting dialogues between East and West on music and philosophy.

We invite papers that address, but are not limited to, the following themes:

鈥� Reinterpretations of Chinese classical philosophy in relation to music and sound.

鈥� Engagement with Western philosophical thought in Chinese music scholarship.

鈥� Comparative studies of aesthetics, ethics, and ontology of music in Chinese and international contexts.

鈥� Contemporary Chinese contributions to global debates in philosophy of music.

鈥� Reflections on the institutional and disciplinary conditions of music鈥損hilosophy research in present-day China.

Submission guidelines: Abstracts must be submitted in English (maximum length as required by MPSG 26 guidelines). Contributions from scholars based in China and abroad are equally welcome.

Themed Session 3: 鈥�Liminal Musicking: Dreams, Imagination, Thought鈥�

Session convenors: Dr Christine Dysers and Malte Kobel (liminalmusicking@gmail.com)

What is 鈥榤usical thought鈥�? Can music be considered a form of thinking? How to think in, with or through music?

In times of planetary crises, traditional modes of thinking and being in the world increasingly fall short. Music, by definition engaged with sociality, has the agency to access, highlight and challenge existing socio-political formations, and might therefore imagine alternative ways of being in the world.

Marking the start of a larger, collaborative research project, we hypothesise musicking as a mode of thought in its own right; one that differs from and raises challenges to a normative phonologocentrism of (Western) traditional rationality and its disembodied understanding of thinking. In that respect, we speculate that musicking is a liminal and transient practice that shares certain affinities with (lucid) dreaming and the imaginary.

This themed session aims to foster cross-disciplinary conversation on liminal musicking and its surrounding topics. We invite proposals for short provocations of up to ten minutes in the broadly defined fields of music studies and philosophy, and welcome speculative, theoretical, and practical perspectives from across genres, cultures, histories and traditions on topics including, but not necessarily limited to:

鈥� Musical epistemologies: music as thought, musicking as thought-in-action, sonic thinking, more-than-human musical sensibilities, feminist and decolonial perspectives and methodologies

鈥� Imaginary musics: imagined, fictional, and surrealist musics, music and mental imagery, music and memory

鈥� Music in/and dreams: irrational, illogical, unreal, incoherent, or associative musics, strange and warped temporalities, disorientation, dream logics

鈥� Multi-modal reasoning and affect: non-sonic musical sensibilities (touch, smell, taste, etc.), feeling-thinking, d/Deaf perspectives

Further details of the conference, including the Call for Papers for Free Sessions on any area of music and philosophy (deadline: 31^st October), can be found on the MPSG website:  

The editors of 鈥楧ebates in Aesthetics鈥� are pleased to invite submissions for the 2026 General Issue (Vol.21, No. 1).

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: 9th January 2026

For this issue we welcome original articles, book reviews, and interviews on any topic in philosophy of art or aesthetics. Submissions should be accessible and concise 鈥� around 3,000-3,500 words for articles and around 1,000-1,500 words for book reviews. Proposals for interviews should be no more than 500 words, with the length of the final interview being 3鈥�000-3鈥�500 words. All submissions should be anonymised for blind review and in Word Document Format (.docx). Detailed submission guidelines are available on our website.

Articles

3,000-3,500 words

The journal publishes articles on a wide range of topics, from defining satire to photography, musical expression, feminism, fictional truth, aesthetic realism, or expressive qualities in animals, and more鈥� For this issue we welcome work on any topic from philosophical aesthetics.

Interviews

500 word proposal (final interview should be 3,000-3,500 words)

Sometimes the finest philosophical discussion happens in conversation. The journal has published some excellent interviews with philosophers and artists alike, including Angela Leighton, No毛l Carroll, Alexander Nehamas, Dominic McIver Lopes, and Santiago Sierra. If you are interested in conducting an interview for the journal, please submit a short proposal of no more than 500 words detailing who you intend to interview, why you think an interview with that person would be of interest to the readership of Debates in Aesthetics, and the relevance of the interviewee鈥檚 work to philosophical aesthetics. We especially encourage proposals for interviews with philosophers and artists from underrepresented groups.

Book Reviews

1,000-1,500 words

The journal also welcomes book reviews or critical summaries on books relevant to our field. These should be on a recent publication, and around 1,000-1,500 words. If you would like to review a book, it might be worth looking at publisher鈥檚 websites, such as Oxford University Press or Routledge, for new and upcoming releases in aesthetics.

Please email all submissions to editor@debatesinaesthetics.org

For submission guidelines please visit 

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Debates in Aesthetics is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal for articles, interviews and book reviews. Published by the 糖心视频, the journal鈥檚 principal aim is to provide the philosophical community with a dedicated venue for debate in aesthetics and the philosophy of art.

==================================================

Christopher Earley & Ben Campion

Co-Editors 

Debates in Aesthetics

Dublin City University,听Thursday and Friday, 9鈥�10 July 2026

Keynote speakers to be announced

The RMA Music and Philosophy Study Group warmly invites session and paper鈥痯roposals for this鈥痶wo-day鈥痠nternational conference, to be held in Dublin on 9鈥�10 July 2026.鈥疶he event will offer an opportunity for those with an interest in music and philosophy to share and discuss their work, in the hope of furthering dialogue in this area.

The organisers are soliciting session and paper proposals under the following headings:

• Themed sessions, will be organised by individual session convenors, who鈥痟ave issued鈥痗alls for papers鈥痮n鈥痵pecific topics;
• Associates Sessions, hosted by organisations with related interests;鈥�
• Free Sessions, open to papers on all topics relating to music and philosophy.

Proposals may be on any topic relating to music and philosophy broadly conceived. The organisers take 鈥渕usic” to include the study of all forms and genres of music and musicmaking from all historical and geographical settings intended for all kinds of venues, audiences, and modes of creation, performance, and consumption; they take 鈥渕usic studies鈥� to encompass inquiry that falls under the heading of 鈥渟ound studies鈥�. They take 鈥減hilosophy” to include the study and practice of all traditions of philosophical thought around the world and from all historical periods, including what may be referred to as analytic, continental, feminist, Black, Indigenous, and classical/ancient philosophies, critical theory, and philosophies from outside the North Atlantic.

Subject to the MPSG receiving additional funding, a limited number of bursaries will be available for presenters who do not have access to institutional funding. Priority will be given to early career applicants and members of underrepresented groups. Expression of interest will be possible alongside abstract submission via the website.

Call for Themed Sessions 

The organisers seek enthusiastic individuals to听propose听Themed Sessions on topics that are focused yet inclusive.听All topics and formats (including but not limited to workshops, roundtables, and experimental formats) will be considered but听should be designed to encourage submissions from both music studies and philosophy, whilst assuming a broad and inclusive definition of each.听The maximum overall time available for the session will be 2 hours.

If you would like to host such a session, please submit a 300-word draft call for papers/contributions that will also function as a session abstractby 8 September 2025 through the . The draft call for papers should focus on the topic of, and rationale for, the session. 

The organisers hope to communicate decisions on the selection of Themed Sessions within a week, with a further deadline of听31听October听2025 for submission of paper abstracts (where applicable) to session organisers. Organisers will be asked to submit paper choices to the programme committee by 17听November听2025. The intention is that the programme committee will, in most circumstances, simply approve the organisers鈥櫶齝hoices, however the committee reserve the right to request changes if there are problems of topical balance or scholarly quality. Final decisions on panel acceptance will be communicated in December 2025.

Call for Associates Sessions

Related organisations, including scholarly societies, study groups, and institutional departments, are warmly invited to host a session at the conference. The topic and organisation of such sessions is left to the host; sessions may feature invited speakers. All formats (including but not limited to workshops, roundtables, and experimental formats) will be considered; the maximum overall time available for the session will be 2 hours.

If you would like to be involved in this way, please submit your session abstract (of up to 350 words), proposed paper titles, and speaker names where applicable through our by 31 October 2025. Decisions will be communicated in December 2025; individual paper abstracts and speaker biographies for accepted panels will be solicited from organisers in early 2026.

Call for Free Papers and Lecture-Recitals

The organisers invite submissions for papers on any topic relating to music and philosophy (as defined above). Regardless of disciplinary affiliation,听the committee seeks conceptually rigorous and clearly articulated research听that presents a novel argument and advances understanding of its topic. Collaboration between people from different disciplines鈥�(including music studies, philosophy, performance, composition, psychology, history, literary studies, art history, anthropology, and others) would be especially welcomed.鈥�

Proposals are invited for:鈥� 

• individual papers听(20 minutes) 鈥� up to 350 words鈥�
• collaborative papers听(up to 30 minutes) 鈥� up to 500 words鈥�
• lecture recitals (30 minutes) 鈥� up to 350 words*鈥�

* Lecture recitals should demonstrate a balance of scholarly rigour with musical performance, making clear connections between music and philosophical themes and/or concepts.

Please submit proposals听by 31 October 2025 through the .

Decisions will be communicated in December 2025. All paper submissions will be considered by blind review by the programme committee:鈥� 

• Dr Clare Lesser (Independent)
• Professor Derek鈥疢atravers鈥�(Open University)鈥�
• Dominik Mitterer (Durham University)
• Dr Friedlind Riedel (Salzburg University)
• Dr F茅rdia Stone-Davis (University of Cambridge)听
• Professor Naomi Waltham-Smith鈥�(University of Oxford)
• Dr Samuel Wilson (Guildhall School of Music & Drama)

If you have queries about the CFP and submitting a proposal, please contact the Chair of the RMA Music & Philosophy Study Group Dr F茅rdia Stone-Davis, fjs23@cam.ac.uk.

Timeline Overview