Call for Papers
Wittgenstein on Ethics and Aesthetics: Historical, Systematic, and Contemporary Perspectives
Few claims in Ludwig Wittgenstein’s philosophy are as influential and enigmatic as the remark in the Tractatus logico-philosophicus that “ethics and aesthetics are one.” From the early notebooks and the Tractatus through the Lecture on Ethics, the Lectures on Aesthetics, the Philosophical Investigations, On Certainty, and Culture and Value, questions of value, meaning, art, judgment, responsibility, and religious experience remain central to his thought.
Wittgenstein, however, develops neither an ethical system nor a traditional theory of aesthetics. Instead, his reflections concern forms of life, practices of judgment, modes of perception, and ways in which value becomes manifest without being reducible to theoretical propositions. Ethics and aesthetics thus touch upon fundamental questions concerning language, world-understanding, education, attention, culture, and the limits and possibilities of philosophy itself.
The planned volume seeks to bring together historical and exegetical studies with systematic, comparative, and contemporary approaches to Wittgenstein’s ethics and aesthetics. Contributions may examine continuities and transformations between his early and later philosophy, explore connections between ethics, aesthetics, religion, mysticism, philosophical anthropology, and cultural criticism, or bring Wittgenstein into dialogue with thinkers such as Kant, Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Tolstoy, Weil, Murdoch, Anscombe, Cavell, Sontag, Arendt, Levinas, Taylor, and Adorno.
Particularly welcome are contributions investigating the contemporary significance of Wittgenstein’s thought. Possible areas include artificial intelligence and digital forms of life, environmental ethics, deep disagreement, political ethics, visual culture, moral education, the ethics of attention, the aesthetics of the ordinary, and the role of art, literature, music, architecture, and film.
Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
- the unity of ethics and aesthetics in the Tractatus
- the Lecture on Ethics and the limits of language
- value, meaning, the mystical, and ineffability
- ethics and aesthetics in Wittgenstein’s later philosophy
- aesthetic judgment, aspect perception, and attention
- ´forms of life, moral education, and cultural practice
- Wittgenstein in dialogue with other philosophical and artistic traditions
- philosophy, poetry, music, architecture, visual art, and film
- Wittgensteinian ethics and aesthetics in contemporary debates
- artificial intelligence, digital forms of life, environmental ethics, and political or cultural conflicts
Contributions from philosophy, art history, literary studies, religious studies, and related disciplines are welcome.
Submission
Please submit an English abstract of no more than 350 words, together with a brief academic biography, by 31 December 2026 to moritzpretzsch@uni-kassel.de„>moritzpretzsch@uni-kassel.de.
Authors will be notified following the peer-review process. Completed chapters are due by 1 April 2027.
The volume is planned for publication in early 2028 with a leading international academic publisher. Detailed information concerning length, citation format, style, and editorial guidelines will be provided upon acceptance.
