Call for Papers: Philosophy and Literature Through Ordinary Language

The study of ordinary language philosophy has long been intertwined with literary interpretation, from the late work of Wittgenstein to Stanley Cavell's writing on tragedy, marriage, and the American uncanny. A new call for papers invites submissions that explore this intersection with fresh attention to the textures of ordinary speech in literary form. The organisers hope to gather voices from philosophy, literary studies, and related disciplines, foregrounding reading practices that take everyday utterance as their starting point.

This call takes its bearings from a methodological commitment: that careful attention to what we say, and how we say it, opens onto philosophical questions that purely abstract argument often misses. Literary texts are uniquely suited to such attention, since they stage the strangeness and resourcefulness of ordinary language in ways that extend, complicate, and sometimes resist the categories philosophers bring to them. Contributors are invited to bring these resources into dialogue.

The symposium associated with the call will take place in 2026 and is supported by several Australian institutions and scholarly networks. Submissions from postgraduate students and early-career researchers are particularly welcome, alongside established scholars working in the ordinary language tradition.

Aims of the symposium

The call seeks contributions that bridge ordinary language philosophy with literary interpretation. Following the work of Wittgenstein, Cavell, and Austin, the symposium invites papers that examine how everyday speech, ordinary uses of words, and forms of life illuminate literary texts. Submissions might explore how writers deploy ordinary language to subvert philosophical categories, or how philosophers read literature as a register of conceptual nuance. Both analytic and more literary-critical approaches are welcome, as are comparative perspectives that draw on Australasian authors and texts alongside canonical European and American works.

Contributors are encouraged to consider the ways ordinary language resists abstraction, an inclination Cavell famously traced through the genre of the novel. Papers might address skepticism, expression, acknowledgment, or the ordinary as a site of philosophical insight, bringing literary texts into conversation with the methodological commitments of the ordinary language tradition.

Possible themes and contributions

A wide range of topics falls within the scope of this call. Possible areas include the rhetoric of skepticism in novels of Patrick White and Tim Winton, the use of everyday speech in the drama of David Malouf, and the inheritance of J.L. Austin's performative utterances in contemporary poetry. Other avenues include the relation between conversational implicature and narrative voice, the philosophical resonance of metaphor, and the reading of confession, apology, and address in lyric and prose.

Papers engaging with Australian English idiom and the textures of vernacular speech in local fiction are particularly encouraged, as are studies that consider indigenous and migrant literary voices whose ordinary speech unsettles inherited philosophical vocabulary. The organisers welcome submissions from early-career researchers and postgraduate students as well as established scholars in the field.

Submission requirements

Abstracts of no more than 350 words should be submitted as anonymous Word documents, accompanied by a separate cover sheet containing the author's name, institutional affiliation, and contact details. The cover sheet should also include a brief biographical note of up to 100 words. Submissions that do not follow these guidelines will be returned without comment. The deadline for receipt of abstracts is 30 June 2026, with notifications of acceptance issued by 31 July 2026.

Full papers, between 6,000 and 9,000 words, will be due six weeks before the symposium itself. A selection of accepted papers will be considered for publication in a special issue of a leading peer-reviewed journal, with further details to follow once the editorial process is confirmed. All submissions and queries should be directed to the organisers via the address listed on the OLP and Literary Studies Online call page.

Format and venue

The symposium will be held over two days at a venue to be confirmed in the Melbourne metropolitan area, with options for remote participation available for those unable to travel. Plenary sessions will feature invited speakers working at the intersection of ordinary language philosophy and literary criticism, while parallel panels will accommodate up to twenty contributed papers. The working language of the symposium is English.

Registration details, including concessional registration for postgraduate students and unwaged scholars, will be circulated in due course. A small number of travel grants will be available for contributors travelling from outside Melbourne, with priority given to those presenting from regional universities in Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland.

Reading recommendations

Prospective contributors may wish to familiarise themselves with several texts central to the ordinary language and literature field. Stanley Cavell's "The Claim of Reason" remains indispensable, as does his later work on literature, including "Must We Mean What We Say?" and the essays collected in "Philosophical Passages." Wittgenstein's "Philosophical Investigations" continues to anchor the conversation, particularly its remarks on rules, family resemblance, and the grammar of aesthetic and ethical terms.

In the Australian context, readers might consult the work of scholars associated with the Australasian Association of Philosophy, as well as essays published in journals such as "Sophia" and the "Australasian Journal of Philosophy." Bibliographies curated by the OLP and Literary Studies Online platform provide a useful starting point, and contributors are encouraged to consult its archive of posts for recent discussion.

Community engagement in Australasia

The symposium arrives at a moment of renewed interest in ordinary language philosophy across Australian universities, with research clusters at Melbourne, Sydney, and the Australian National University hosting reading groups and seminar series on Cavell and Wittgenstein. The organisers hope the event will consolidate these initiatives and provide a forum for graduate students whose work sits at the intersection of philosophy and literary criticism.

Several Australian scholarly publishers, including Melbourne University Press, have expressed interest in supporting the event and exploring subsequent publication opportunities. The organisers also anticipate collaboration with literary festivals in Victoria and New South Wales, recognising that the ordinary language tradition has much to offer contemporary conversations about reading, listening, and acknowledgment in public life.

How to submit and stay informed

Abstracts should be sent to the organisers no later than 30 June 2026. Early submissions are welcome and will receive a response within three weeks. Contributors with questions about the suitability of a proposed topic are warmly invited to write to the convenors in advance of the deadline. Updates regarding the programme, plenary speakers, and registration will be posted regularly, and subscribers to the site's mailing list will receive the announcements directly.

The organisers look forward to receiving contributions from across Australasia and beyond, and to gathering a community of readers who take both philosophy and literature seriously as kindred forms of attention to the ordinary. Prospective contributors are encouraged to circulate this call among colleagues and graduate programs who might be interested.