Eurograd message

                Call for papers
<br>
<br>*Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology*
<br>
<br>Special issue
<br>
<br>*Phenomenology and Virtuality*
<br>
<br>edited by Gregory Swer and Jean du Toit
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>Our age is typified by technology (Kroes & Meijers, 2016: 12), but it is
<br>the question of the virtual that has particularly come to the forefront
<br>after the turn of the century. The contemporary era of emergent digital
<br>technologies has seen the multiplication of virtual spaces – our
<br>civilizations are indeed steeped in the virtual – which has resulted in
<br>complex changes to the dimensions of our existence and experience. While
<br>thinkers such as Baudrillard (in *Simulacra and Simulation* (1981))
<br>emphasize a dichotomous relationship between reality and virtual reality,
<br>the enmeshed character of modern individuals within emergent virtual spaces
<br>may call into question the continuing relevance of such oppositions.
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>The term virtuality (a conflation of the words *reality* and *virtual*) may
<br>present a challenge to dichotomous views on reality and the virtual.
<br>Virtuality does not merely refer to virtual reality, but rather – in a
<br>broader sense – circumscribes the many virtual spaces that arise from
<br>modern digital technologies within the life-world of the individual.
<br>Virtuality denotes not merely those ‘obvious’ virtual spaces that one
<br>engages with via so-called VR headsets and goggles, but rather the
<br>multitudinous forms of the virtual that already find their occurrence
<br>through social media networking sites and data transfer technologies,
<br>through instant communication (words spoken or written by one person and
<br>sent to another), through cell phones and TV screens, through advertising
<br>(targeted or otherwise), and by means of geographical guidance via GPS
<br>systems. The modern individual is immersed within virtuality, and we are
<br>living in a world of technological appearances wherein making sense of
<br>virtuality is becoming increasingly pressing.
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>A danger of the technological expansion of the virtual, especially as the
<br>virtual heads inexorably towards omnipresence, is that everything seems to
<br>fall apart into mere appearances.  Robert Sokolowski formulates the problem
<br>of appearances in our technological era in terms of three phenomenological
<br>themes: 1) parts and wholes, 2) identity in manifolds, and 3) presence and
<br>absence. He argues that we are “flooded by fragments without any wholes, by
<br>manifolds bereft of identities, and by multiple absences without any
<br>enduring real presence. We have *bricolage *and nothing else, and we think
<br>we can even invent ourselves at random by assembling convenient and
<br>pleasing but transient identities out of the bits and pieces we find around
<br>us. We pick up fragments to shore against our ruin” (Sokolowski, 2000:
<br>3-4). Sokolowski suggests that, in our engagement with the virtual, we are
<br>caught up in a crisis of appearances. However, are other avenues open to us?
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>If phenomenology allows one to “return to the things themselves”
<br>(Husserl,
<br>2001: 168), to “describe the basic structures of human experience and
<br>understanding from a first person perspective” (Carman, 2002: viii), then
<br>the individual’s encounter with virtuality is a problem that phenomenology
<br>is particularly suited to address. It is the aim of this special issue to
<br>promote interest in the emerging field of the phenomenology of virtuality,
<br>and insights from a wide variety of phenomenological perspectives (and
<br>multi-disciplinary viewpoints in conversation with phenomenology) are
<br>welcomed in addressing this topic.
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>Topics of discussion could include (but are not limited to) the following:
<br>
<br>-          What is the relation between virtuality and phenomenology? In
<br>what ways may traditional phenomenological thought be re-deployed to gain
<br>insight into virtuality?
<br>
<br>-          What is the relation / differences between non-virtual and
<br>virtual being? Is it possible to distinguish reality from virtuality?
<br>
<br>-          How is selfhood constituted in virtuality? What does
<br>inter-subjectivity look like in this regard?
<br>
<br>-          How are the notions of gender and race constituted in virtuality?
<br>
<br>-          What is the relation / lack of relation between cognitive
<br>science and phenomenological interpretations of virtuality?
<br>
<br>-          What is the relation between virtuality and the imaginary?
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>The contributors must submit their papers before *24 August 2020*, with
<br>expected publication of papers towards the end of the year.
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>*Please send articles to:*
<br>
<br>Gregory Swer (editor of the journal): Email: gregswer@gmail.com
<br>
<br>Jean du Toit (guest editor of the special issue): Email:
<br>jean.dutoit@nwu.ac.za
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>*References:*
<br>
<br>Baudrillard, J. 1981. Simulacra and simulation. University of Michigan
<br>press.
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>Carman, 2002. Foreword. (In Merleau-Ponty, M. 1962. Phenomenology of
<br>Perception, translated by Colin Smith. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
<br>Reprint, Routledge, 2002).
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>Husserl, E. 1900/1901. Logical Investigations, edited by Dermot Moran. 2nd
<br>ed. 2 vols. London: Routledge. Reprint, Routledge, 2001.
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>Kroes, P. and Meijers, A.W. 2016. Toward an Axiological Turn in the
<br>Philosophy of Technology. (In Franssen, M., Vermaas, P.E., Kroes, P. and
<br>Meijers, A.W. eds. Philosophy of Technology after the Empirical Turn.
<br>Springer Verlag. p. 11-30).
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>Sokolowski, R. 2000. Introduction to Phenomenology. Cambridge and New York:
<br>Cambridge University Press.
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