Cavell and ordinary language pedagogy: a call for papers

Stanley Cavell’s writing asks how philosophical language shapes ordinary life, while Wittgenstein treats language as a practice embedded in forms of life. Together, they offer resources for examining how students learn, how literature is read, and how classroom speech creates habits of attention and ethical response. The issue will connect philosophical interpretation to concrete educational practice rather than treating teaching as an illustrative application.

OLP & Literary Studies Online invites proposals for a special issue on Cavell and ordinary language pedagogy. We welcome articles, essays, and practice-based studies from philosophy, literary studies, education, and related fields. Contributions may be submitted individually or as a coherent group, with particular interest in work that clarifies the relationship between philosophical inquiry and educational experience.

Why ordinary language matters pedagogically

The pedagogical problem is not simply how to communicate philosophical ideas to students. It is how philosophical ideas might alter the vocabulary, assumptions, and interpersonal habits through which students understand their world. Cavell’s attention to ordinary language and Wittgenstein’s account of language games make such questions central to a philosophy curriculum grounded in practical reasoning and textual encounter.

An ordinary language approach also creates room for students’ speech, ambiguity, and informal reasoning to become objects of serious study. Teachers can ask how terms such as “knowledge,” “responsibility,” “friendship,” or “sincerity” function in daily life, then trace their transformations through literature, film, and classroom discussion. This approach treats philosophical writing as a form of practice capable of changing how students recognise and respond to situations.

Cavell and Wittgenstein in the classroom

Close work with texts such as Cavell’s The Claim of the Self and Must We Mean What We Say? can be paired with Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations. Such pairings invite examination of self-knowledge, rule-following, testimony, authority, and the limits of what can be established through argument. They also reveal how different literary and philosophical genres make ordinary usage visible.

In the classroom, this material can support exercises on reflective writing, close reading, and philosophical conversation. Students might test whether a verbal formulation captures an experience, compare a character’s claim with the conduct of a narrative, or examine how an apparently innocent term carries ethical weight. The teacher participates as a reader whose interpretations remain open to correction rather than functioning solely as the transmitter of settled doctrine.

Australian contexts for philosophy and literature

Australian settings provide varied opportunities for this research. Melbourne’s literary culture, bookshop-centred reading networks, and active café culture offer accessible settings for community discussions about philosophical texts. Sydney combines major publishing networks with multilingual university classrooms, while Canberra’s Australian National University creates strong connections between philosophy, public policy, and the humanities. These urban and institutional environments support research linking abstract debates with local educational communities.

Australian teaching customs also shape the available methods. Small-group tutorials, oral presentations, reflective journals, group assessment, and the work of sessional teachers can create unusually visible records of philosophical learning. Discussions about argument often sit alongside conversations about belonging, identity, and cultural interpretation, providing fertile material for studying how forms of life emerge in educational settings.

The local scholarly market is relatively compact, making sustained engagement with Australian university presses and interdisciplinary journals especially valuable. AustLit connects the issue with Australian literary scholarship, while organisations such as the Australasian Association of Philosophy offer avenues for wider philosophical discussion. Contributors can therefore address an international readership while grounding their work in Australian pedagogy, publishing conditions, and student experience.

Themes for the special issue

Submissions might investigate Cavell’s ethics of acknowledgement, Wittgenstein’s forms of life, or the productive tension between their accounts of language. Possible topics include teaching philosophical films, using confessional writing in literature courses, examining student responses to canonical texts, or reconsidering the authority of the lecturer. Articles could also address philosophical counselling, writing centres, interdisciplinary seminars, and curricula designed around practical inquiry.

Public and institutional language supplies another possible line of inquiry. Environmental discourse offers a productive comparative case: a paper could examine how debates over critical battery recycling sort technical terms, assign value, and invite reinterpretation, then ask what classroom exercises might accomplish with discarded or marginalised linguistic forms. Such work could connect ordinary language philosophy to public pedagogy beyond the seminar room.

Pedagogical questions should extend across assessment and inclusion. Contributors might ask whether formal definitions conceal culturally situated usages, how first-language confidence affects classroom participation, or how students can engage with Indigenous and migrant languages without reducing them to illustrative material. Proposals involving Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander education should follow appropriate protocols, establish relevant relationships, and respect community authority over knowledge.

Methods for studying classroom language

The issue welcomes both close conceptual analysis and empirical research. A submission might combine detailed readings of Cavell and Wittgenstein with transcripts, student writing, recorded tutorials, or reflective journals. Pedagogical autoethnography, action research, and practice-based inquiry are also appropriate, especially when the researcher’s position within the classroom is treated as part of the inquiry rather than concealed from it.

Classroom-based studies require careful attention to consent, privacy, and the power carried by teacher-researchers. Researchers should explain how participants can refuse participation or withdraw material without disadvantage. Work involving Indigenous knowledge or communities should incorporate the relevant principles of data sovereignty. These methodological commitments can strengthen philosophical claims by demonstrating how situated attention affects interpretation.

What the proposal should demonstrate

A successful proposal should identify a focused problem, explain the significance of Cavell or Wittgenstein for it, and show how the argument will contribute to teaching and literary studies. It should also establish an appropriate balance between textual precision and institutional detail. Generality alone will not suffice: readers need to know what the proposed teaching intervention, classroom encounter, or textual practice actually involves.

Proposal packages should include a 200–250-word abstract, a contribution statement of about 500 words, a short biography, a preliminary bibliography, and a brief account of the proposed methods or material. The contribution statement should explain the article’s originality and its likely audience, such as university teachers, students, researchers, or curriculum developers. Final submissions should use accessible references and provide a concise abstract suitable for indexing.

Submit a proposal for peer review

We especially welcome proposals from early-career researchers, educators, and scholars working across institutional boundaries. Articles that connect philosophical analysis with documented teaching practice, student writing, or public language are particularly encouraged. Contributors may also propose a focused bibliography, interview, or symposium essay where these formats offer the clearest response to the issue’s central concerns.

Prepare a proposal that presents a precise inquiry, an appropriate method, and a clear contribution to Cavellian and Wittgensteinian scholarship. Submit the completed package through the special issue’s submission channel, identify the proposed article in the subject line, and include the abstract, contribution statement, biography, bibliography, and methodological note.