Each month, the Philosophy in The Time of Crisis website will open a critical, collective dialogue on a very specific philosophical concept playing an essential role in our contemporary conjuncture. The website will invite short contributions and interviews from leading philosophers, artists, writers and intellectuals who have recently contributed to our understanding of the concept under analysis. It will also be open to intelligent, punctual contributions by the Warwick student community and by the public at large.

In this month, March 2018, the website will focus on a collective reflection on the concept and political dispositif of 'crisis'. Submissions are invited on the philosophy and lived reality of "crisis" from Warwick staff and postgraduate students on a wide range of disciplines, including philosophy, political theory, intellectual history, the history of science, art and music, literature and cultural studies. As Philosophy in The Time of Crisis does not intend to be either a classic journal nor a traditional academic publication, the editors strongly support the circulation of extremely brief, punctual notes, exemporaneous reflections, nocturnal wonderings, daily musings and ponderous considerations. In short, they would like to create a space for those minimal, minor writings that remain at the margins of philosophical forums and beyond the frontiers of academic publishing. Short pieces between 500 and 1500 words are preferable, but the editors are open to experimenting with other formats. In order to submit a short contribution, and for any questions, please contact Professor de Beistegui and/or Dr Policante directly at philosophyincrisis@gmail.com and/or https://www.philosophyx.co.uk/contact-us

Call for Contributions from Professor Miguel de Beistegui and Dr Amedeo Policante

We live in critical times. From the spread of terrorist and counter-terrorist networks to the prospect of ecological collapse, from the growth of social inequalities to the delegitimisation of traditional political institutions, from recurring spectres of financial collapse to the reality of widespread economic destablisation, discourses on 'crisis' have become ubiquitious. Obviously, the concept of 'crisis' has a long and controversial history, which may be traced back to the Greek conception of κρίσις meaning both the high point of a dispute and the resulting decision or judgement (often in a legal context). And yet, today, the concept of 'crisis' has assumed an unprecedented significance and, in the words of the French philosopher, Myriam Revault D'Allones, has rapidly emerged as the 'absolute metaphor of the contemporary age'.

And yet, is crisis really the emblematic concept of our late modernity? What have the been the various manifestations as well as conceptual deployments of crisis over time, and what do they reveal about their age? What remedies and measures are evoked by an appeal to crisis? As well as the beginning of the work of critique, is crisis not also a key instrument of populism, and a very useful tool in the politics of fear? Do we not have reasons to be suspicious, if not fearful, of the rhetoric of crisis itself, and, following the example of sociologists as diverse as Ulrick Beck, Jean Baudrillard or Niklas Luhman, reject the vocabulary of crisis (and critique) as obsolete and possibly even complacent? Is the narrative of crisis in crisis itself? What does this imply for our self-understanding and our ability to make sense of the world? Should philosophy contribute to a radical critique of crisis? Or, at the very least, how can philosophy contribute to a better understanding of this concept?