CfP: Stefan Morawski (Cultural Studies Review)

Date/Time
Date(s): 12. February – 30. April
00:00

Categories

• Call for Papers

The year 2021 marks the centenary of the birth of Professor Stefan Morawski. On this occasion we would like to draw attention to his legacy in the broadly defined field of philosophical cultural studies. Is Stefan Morawski’s reflection on the crisis of culture still justifiable and up-to-date? Does his diagnosis of contemporary culture, which he called postmodern, still remain adequate? Is his “private war against postmodernism” to be justified and defended today? On what grounds? Does the typologization of avant-garde and neo-avant-garde art proposed by Morawski, along with with their distinctive features, stand the test of time? Is the method of cultural-historical relationism still attractive for the humanities?

Morawski’s main area of interest was the philosophy of art and culture, in which the philosophical component held the dominant position. The axiological aspect, grounded in humanistic values, constituted the backbone of Morawski’s broader theoretical approach. His research can be divided into two types of works. The first concerned the history of artistic and aesthetic ideas against the background of the history of philosophical concepts from the seventeenth century to the modern times. The second concerned theoretical investigations in relation to art, aesthetics, philosophy and culture in its broadest sense. The former was accompanied by metahistorical reflection of a theoretical nature, with deep methodological and philosophical self-awareness of how the object under investigation is presented. The latter was accompanied by a typology of existing concepts, with which Morawski entered into polemical, partly approving contact, the purpose of which was to crystallise his own theoretical solutions.

Morawski systematically participated in international academic life after 1960. He participated in the International Aesthetics Congresses as well as many other foreign and national conferences, universities in Europe and the USA regularly invited him to lecture and participate in research. His publications were present on the international academic circuit. In 1992, at the XII. International Congress in Madrid, Maria Golaszewska described the reception of the paper Morawski presented there as follows: “The senior of Polish aesthetics, Prof. Stefan Morawski, was invited to give a paper at the plenary session; it met with a warm reception – a standing ovation with long continued applause.

His ideas influenced the current shape of the Polish philosophy of culture, philosophy of art and aesthetics. Generations of scholars have discussed Morawski’s proposals concerning the end of art, anti-aesthetics, the crisis of culture, and postmodernism. Thanks to Morawski’s responsiveness, impartiality and preference for keeping the debate open, his findings concerning the crisis of culture, postmodernity and postmodernism, philosophy of art, aesthetics and contemporary art can be seen as non-final (in statu nascendi). This factor alone allows for the opinion that they have not lost their relevance, and, furthermore, prompts a debate in which  the strength of the arguments matters.

We invite you to undertake a courageous, polemical reflection on the problems that Stefan Morawski addressed in his works. We are particularly interested in critical reflection pertaining to his proposals and re-examining his oeuvre. Audacious proposals and daring polemics are welcome within the domains of inquiry following Stefan Morawski’s footsteps. The list of areas and topics include but are not limited to:

* art: literature, film, architecture, painting, applied art, religious art, art and society, art and pornography, art and education, popular art and high art, art criticism;

* avant-garde art, neo-avant-garde art;

* aesthetics;

* history of aesthetics and art;

* philosophical aesthetics;

* scientifically oriented aesthetics;

* Marxist aesthetics, Frankfurt School and T. W. Adorno;

* philosophy of art;

Should you need any further information, please feel free to contact us. We look forward to hearing from you.

Please submit your articles to the following address: przeglad.kulturoznawczy@uj.edu.pl.

Submission deadline: 30 April, 2021.

Information for authors: https://www.culturalstudiesreview.eu/information-for-authors/

Marxist aesthetics, Frankfurt School and T. W. Adorno:

• S. Morawski, On Marxist aesthetic thought, “Reports on Philosophy”, 1999, issue 19, pp. 99 – 118.
• S. Morawski, Marxist historicism and the philosophy of art, ”Architectural Design”, London 1981, issue 6 – 7, pp. 61 – 67.
• S. Morawski, Historicism and the Philosophy of Art, ”Praxis”, Berkeley 1978, issue 4, pp. 71 – 85.
• S. Morawski, Introduction, [in:], Karl Marx, Friderick Engels on Literature and Art. A selection of writings edited by Lee Baxandall with introduction by Stefan Morawski, London 1977,
• S. Morawski, The Ideology of Anarchism – a Tentative Analysis, ”The Polish Sociological Bulletin”, 1977, issue 1, pp. 31 – 47.
• S. Morawski, The aesthetics views of Marx and Engels, ”The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism”, 1969/1970, vol. XXVIII, issue 3, pp. 301 – 314.

Philosophy of art, philosophical aesthetics:

• S. Morawski, Inquiries into the Fundamentals of Aesthetics, Cambridge, MIT Press, London 1974, pp. 408.
• S. Morawski, What is a Work of Art, [w:], L. Baxandal, Radical Prospectives in the Arts, London – New York 1972, p. 324 – 370.
• S. Morawski, The Criteria of Aesthetic Evaluation, ”Annales d’Esthétique” 1973, vol. XI – XII, s. 1 – 29.
• S. Morawski, On Ingarden’s selection Paper in Aesthetics [co-author: M. McCornick], ”Canadian Philosophic Review”, 1986, t. VI, nr 8.
• S. Morawski, On the function of Aesthetics, ”The Newsletter of the American Society for Aesthetics”, 1986, vol. 7, no. 1.
• S. Morawski, Art as Semblance, ”The Journal of Philosophy”, 1984, vol. 81, issue 11, pp. 654 – 663
• S. Morawski, On ”The Language of Art”, ”Erkenntnis”, 1978, issue 12, pp. 119 – 128.
• S. Morawski, Art, Censorship and Socialism, ”Praxis”, Berkeley 1975, issue 1, pp. 38 – 47.
• S. Morawski, Is There any Incompatibility between Philosophy and Art?, [w:], Proceedings of the Xth International Congress of Aesthetics, Montreal, [in:], Reasons of Art, Ottawa 1984, pp. 26 – 39.
• Avant-garde art, neo-avant-garde art:
  • Remarks on the Creative Process and the Legacy of Conceptual Art, ”Bulletin.
    Recherches sur les Arts”, 1996, vol. XLVI/VII, pp. 11 – 23.
  • The Artistic Avant-garde (on two 20^th Century Formations), trans. A. Rodzińska, ”Polish Art Studies”, 1989, vol. 10, pp. 79 – 107.
  • Is the modernist worldview alive today?, ”Canadian-American Slavic Studies”, California State University, Bakersfield 1987, vol. 21, issue. 1 – 2, pp. 123 – 131.
  • From the Ethos of Art to the Ethos of the Artist beyond Art [trans. Chester Adam Kisiel], ”Polish Art Studies”, 1986, vol. 7, pp. 203 – 221.

  Postmodernity and postmodernism:

  • S. Morawski, The Troubles with Postmodernism, Routledge, London 1996,
  • S. Morawski, The hopeless game of flânerie, [in:], The Flâneur, London, New York, Routledge, 1994, pp. 181 – 197.
  • S. Morawski, Bauman’s Ways of seeing the World, ”Theory, Culture and Society”, 1998, vol. 15, pp. 1 – 29.
  • S. Morawski, On the subject of and in post-modernism, ”The British Journal of Aesthetics”, 1992, vol. 32, nr 1, pp. 50 – 58.

  Deadline: April 30, 2021