Message posted on 12/08/2020
Final CFP Phenomenology and Virtuality
Final 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. *The editors do <br>appreciate that writing to deadline is particularly challenging under <br>present circumstances and should any prospective author require additional <br>time to prepare their submission, we ask that they please contact us to <br>discuss arrangements.* <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. <br>_______________________________________________ <br>EASST's Eurograd mailing list <br>Eurograd (at) lists.easst.net <br>Unsubscribe or edit subscription options: http://lists.easst.net/listinfo.cgi/eurograd-easst.net <br> <br>Meet us via https://twitter.com/STSeasst <br> <br>Report abuses of this list to Eurograd-owner@lists.easst.netview formatted text
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