Call for Papers:
Which Psychologies for Politics? Instruments or Essence of Power?

P.O.I. – Points of Interest, No. 10 (June 2022)

Submission Deadline (abstracts): March 31th, 2022

redazione@poireview.com

 

The bi-annual journal P.O.I. – Points of Interest invites submissions for its forthcoming issue. Submissions should address the issue’s theme, on the basis of one or more of the topics proposed below, and should conform to the stipulated criteria and terms, as indicated.

The relation between political reflection and irrational, hyper-rational, and sub-rational forms of public action has always been one of philosophy’s fundamental areas, well before the birth of psychoanalytical theory and before the unconscious became one of the fundamental topics of such reflection. For a long time, it was the imagination, channeled in myth, religious creed, or elsewhere, that attracted the attention of those who sought to find some regulations for political life beyond the dictates of laws and morals, that is, the causes were sought in a presumed anthropological given. But ever since psychologies, in their scientific form, entered the scene, we have asked ourselves, analytically: how does the human mind operate when it relates to other human minds? And: what happens to primordial human instincts within civil society? An investigation into the role of the unconscious in politics today should no longer be limited to reconstructing the essential lines traced by, among others, Freud, Jung, and Lacan. The widespread development of non-psychoanalytic psychologies can and must furnish new tools for the discussion starting from cognitive psychology, psychology of emotions, and so-called “neurosciences” in general.

The following is a list of possible themes:

  • Before the unconscious: reflections on the relation between imagination and politics from ancient thought to the dawn of the contemporary era;
  • After psychoanalysis: the relation between neuroscience and/or cognitive psychology and political life.
  • The legacies of Freud, Jung, and/or Lacan and the challenges of the 21st Century
  • Between psychoanalysis, cognitive psychology, and the psychology of emotions: studies on different approaches.
  • Which psychology for confronting current political challenges?

Guidelines and terms for submission:

  • Submissions should be preceded by an abstract (max. 2,000 characters [approx., 350-400 words], including spaces), which will be pre-screened for relevance to the CfP by the editorial staff.
  • The deadline for receipt of abstracts is March 31th, 2022. Decisions regarding the outcome of abstract submissions will be communicated following that date.
  • The deadline for submission of full papers (20,000-60,000 characters [approx., 3,500-10,500 words], including spaces) is May 30th, 2022.
  • Contributions must be of original, unpublished work, and must not be under consideration by other journals.
  • Submissions in the following languages are accepted and will be considered: Italian, English, French, German, Spanish.
  • The journal employs a double-blind peer review process; therefore, the author’s name and any affiliation must appear only once in the paper (under the title). The full version of the paper should include an abstract in English (of max. 1,500 characters [approx., 250 words], spaces included), and 5 keywords in English.

Editorial guidelines can be found at the following webpage: http://poireview.com/norme-editoriali/.

Submissions should be sent to the following address: redazione@poireview.com