*CFP* "PHILOSOPHY AND AESTHETICS OF SEXUALITY IN JAPAN", SPECIAL ISSUE THE POLISH JOURNAL OF AESTHETICS

Sex is one of the most essential elements of human life. Without it, the continuity of the generations of any nation would be impossible. Desire, whether unfulfilled or otherwise, sexual fantasies come true, religious, social, and moral taboos—all of these elements have influenced the shaping of sexuality in any given culture, while sublimation of this sphere of life has been reflected in art, literature, philosophy, the performing arts, pop culture, and many other areas. However, due to differences in cultural patterns, the results may be different, strange, incomprehensible, and sometimes even unacceptable to viewers from another part of the world who are unfamiliar with their historical or sociocultural context. So it is with Japan. According to Ruth Benedict, “[i]n the seventy-five years that have passed since the opening of Japan to the world, the Japanese have become the heroes of such fantastic stories that no other nation in the world can compare with them in this respect.” Decades have passed since the publication of her book about Japan, and yet many stereotypes about the Japanese, and especially about their sex life, continue to circulate. On one hand, Japan appears, in the general consensus, as a land of sexual peculiarities and deviations, often inconceivable to Westerners, assumed to date from “ancient” times; on the other hand, the media informs us of the latest research results, according to which the Japanese have completely given up cohabitation.

We invite authors to submit articles concerning the topic of sexuality in Japan, covering this issue from the point of view of esthetics and philosophy, as broadly understood, including:

• sexuality manifested in the form of creativity in various fields of art, in the bodies of work of selected artists or in individual works of painting, literature, film, photography, etc., both historic and contemporary; 
• sublimation and desublimation of sexuality, the imposition or removal of taboos, changes in the perception of chosen aspects of this sphere of life in selected historical epochs or individual cases; 
• sexuality vis-à-vis philosophical and philosophical-religious systems in Japan (Buddhism, Shint?, Confucianism, Taoism, etc.); 
• contemporary esthetization of sexuality in pop culture.

We encourage authors to seek unconventional perspectives on sexuality in Japan. We’re interested in articles that address this topic in an innovative, not merely descriptive, manner (e.g., in the case of a work of art).

Editors:

Timon Screech (SOAS, University of London, United Kingdom)

Gabriela Matusiak (Jagiellonian University, Poland)

Submission deadline: May 15, 2019

*********************************************************************

We would like to kindly ask all authors to familiarize themselves with our guidelines, available under “For Authors” and to double-check the completeness of each article (including an abstract, keywords, a bibliography, and a note on the author) before submission.

Only completed papers should be submitted using the submissions page.

All articles are subjected to double-blind reviews. Articles published in The Polish Journal of Aesthetics are assigned DOI numbers. Please do not hesitate to contact us via email: pjaestheticsuj@gmail.com.

The Polish Journal of Aesthetics is a philosophical-aesthetic periodical, which has been published quarterly since 2001 by the Institute of Philosophy of the Jagiellonian University in Cracow, Poland. The journal has a long editorial tradition and is affiliated with one of the oldest European universities; simultaneously, it continuously grows through systematic development. The editors’ goal is to implement and maintain the highest international publishing standards and practices, resulting in the publication of eminently substantive articles and papers addressing important and topical issues concerning artistic performances and activities. Each year, four volumes of the journal are published devoted to specific issues of aesthetics and philosophy of art, prepared in co-operation with experts of a particular subject.

The Journal has been indexed by:

• The Central and Eastern European Online Library (CEEOL); 
• The Central European Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities (CEJSH); 
• The European Reference Index for the Humanities and the Social Sciences (ERIH PLUS); 
• PhilPapers: Online research in Philosophy; 
• Index Copernicus International; 
• e-Publikacje Nauki Polskiej; 
• POL-Index.