CFP: Wittgenstein, Cavell, and the literature of self-knowledge
This call for papers invites work at the meeting point of ordinary language philosophy and literary studies. It asks how philosophical accounts of self-knowledge become possible through reading, writing and the textures of language.
Later Wittgenstein and Stanley Cavell unsettle the idea that inner life is privately accessible. Their writing shifts attention towards language-games, forms of life, ordinary utterance, ethical address and the public work of interpretation.
Contributions may bring philosophical prose into dialogue with fiction, poetry, memoir and criticism. They may examine confession, irony, silence or the authoritative voice, while asking whether literature enacts forms of knowing that formal argument leaves behind.
The symposium welcomes established scholars, early-career researchers, postgraduate candidates and readers in literary studies. A hybrid format will support contributors from Australian universities and international networks without making physical travel a condition of participation.
Why literature changes the question
Philosophical self-knowledge often appears as a problem of access: can a speaker know their own sensations, intentions or reasons? Wittgenstein resists treating inner experience as an unmediated object, while Cavell makes ordinary language an ethical encounter rather than a transparent report.
Literary texts complicate that resistance. They stage hesitation, revise themselves and address readers whose interpretations may differ from the speaker’s. A paper might therefore ask what a poem, novel or philosophical essay does when it makes a claim to inwardness.
Philosophical and literary lines
Possible lines include Wittgenstein’s remarks on private language, the limits of expressibility, rule-following and avowal; Cavell’s reading of Austin and his account of ordinary language; and the relation between philosophical therapy, confession and literary form. Comparative work with Heidegger, Ricoeur or Emerson would also be welcome.
Cavell’s essays on Emerson, Thoreau and Austin show how canonical philosophy and American literature can be read through one another. Participants might investigate whether poetic language supplements an argument about self-knowledge, performs an ethics of attention, or exposes the limits of the first-person singular.
Contribution formats
The call welcomes a 2,500–3,500-word conference paper, a 1,500-word essay, a creative-critical piece with an abstract, or a proposal for a chaired panel. Comparative studies can foreground a single text, while conceptual papers may connect readings across literary movements, periods or national traditions.
Short contributions should still clarify their philosophical claim and their critical method. Work in progress, book chapters, archival studies and digital projects may be proposed when the contribution to the symposium’s central concerns can be stated with precision.
Reading and publishing resources
The organiser’s announcements, archive and curated bibliography support the call through OLP Online. Readers can begin with Cavell’s Themes of Romanticism and The Claim of Ordinary Language, alongside Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations and relevant early texts on aesthetics.
AustLit offers a valuable starting point for work on Australian writers, while the wider Australian academic publishing market provides routes into journals, collected volumes and university presses. Submissions with a local dimension should nevertheless explain how their textual and philosophical stakes exceed regional emphasis alone.
The Australian scholarly setting
The Melbourne meeting is designed to fit familiar local rhythms: trams to the venue, coffee between sessions and a workshop culture of close, constructive discussion. Contributors from Canberra’s Australian National University and the University of Sydney can combine the meeting with existing teaching or research travel, reducing the burden on limited travel budgets.
Financial details are expressed in Australian dollars. A small pool of A$750 travel bursaries is available to early-career contributors who would otherwise face costly air travel, and online participation carries no registration charge. This recognises the uneven funding conditions across the Australian university sector.
First Nations scholarship can open important approaches to testimony, memory and the limits of authoritative voice, provided researchers follow community protocols and build genuine intellectual relationships. Australian journals and presses will also be represented in discussions about how this work reaches scholarly readers.
Preparing a strong submission
Abstracts of 200 words should identify the primary text or debate, the philosophical problem, the literary method and the intended contribution. Authors should include a short biography and one page of references rather than sending complete manuscripts with the initial abstract.
A useful proposal names the interpretive difficulty at stake. For instance, it might ask whether a first-person narrative establishes knowledge, stages a demand for trust, or demonstrates the insufficiency of the concept “inner life”. Precise questions make interdisciplinary discussion more productive.
Deadlines and submission details
Abstracts are due by 5pm AEST on 30 April 2026, with decisions issued by 30 May. Revised conference papers will be due on 15 July, and the hybrid symposium will meet in Melbourne on 12–13 September, with remote access throughout. Completed 6,000–8,000-word submissions for the associated special issue are invited by 30 November 2026.
Proposals should include the title, 200-word abstract, 100-word biography, keywords and any accessibility or travel support required. Send a PDF to the address listed in the full call; correspondence should use a file name beginning with the author’s surname.
Each submission receives a brief scholarly response, and accepted papers will be grouped around the symposium’s main axes before publication. Detailed instructions, including the special-issue style sheet, accompany the call.
Researchers working on Wittgenstein, Cavell, ordinary language philosophy or the literary forms of inwardness are invited to join the conversation. Papers that bring philosophical precision to close reading, or literary insight to philosophical argument, will be especially welcome.
Send the 200-word abstract, short biography and provisional title by the stated deadline, and state any support required for travel or online participation.