CALL FOR PAPERS

Book Symposium

Abstract: Epistemic injustice refers to the injustice that a person suffers specifically in their capacity as a knower--i.e., as someone who produces, conveys, or uses knowledge. Epistemic injustice occurs every day when members of non-dominant groups are not included or taken seriously in conversations or social representations due to individual or societal biases.

Epistemic injustice is inherently connected to epistemic power and epistemic agency: understanding and addressing epistemic injustice allows us to better understand and address epistemic power and agency, and vice versa. Yet, despite vast and rich discussions of epistemic injustice, which often invoke the notions of epistemic power and epistemic agency, both notions remain undertheorized and hence largely elusive. Amandine Catala offers a systematic account of epistemic power and agency by turning to the dynamics of epistemic injustice--that is, the many forms epistemic injustice can take, the different sites and mechanisms through which it operates, and the various transformations consequently required to cultivate greater epistemic justice.

Adopting standpoint theory as both a theoretical and a methodological framework, Catala considers several pressing social questions, such as deliberative impasses in divided societies, colonial memory, academic migration, the underrepresentation of members of non-dominant groups in certain fields, the marginalization of minoritized minds such as intellectually disabled people, and the underdiagnosing of autistic women. By analyzing these social questions through the lens of the dynamics of epistemic injustice, this book makes two main contributions: it develops a systematic account of epistemic power and agency that highlights the interaction between individual and structural factors, and it offers a pluralist account of epistemic injustice and agency that reveals their non-propositional and non-verbal dimensions.

Author Bio: Amandine Catala is a Full Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Université du Québec à Montréal, where she holds the Canada Research Chair on Epistemic Injustice and Agency, and is a Senior Research Associate at the African Centre for Epistemology and Philosophy of Science, University of Johannesburg. She received her PhD from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Guest Editor Bio: Sarah Arnaud is Professor of Philosophy at CÉGEP (College) Edouard Montpetit in Canada, and an executive council member of the Association for the Advancement of Philosophy and Psychiatry (AAPP). Her research interests lie in the area of philosophy of mind—mainly on emotion, consciousness, and the self, and in philosophy of psychology and psychiatry—particularly on the role of values and first-person perspectives in psychiatric categories, and on how neurodiversity impacts our understanding of autism. 

The Society for Philosophy of Emotion and the Journal of Philosophy of Emotion (JPE) are organizing a book symposium on Professor Catala's book, The Dynamics of Epistemic Injustice: Situating Epistemic Power and Agency. We are looking for commentators for the SPE's 2026 Pacific APA (virtual only) affiliated group session, and for a subsequent publication in the Journal of Philosophy of Emotion, including a JPE podcast edition. (No additional work beyond seeing your commentary through to publication with the JPE will be required for the podcast edition.) If you are interested in engaging in a critical discussion of Professor Catala's book, with the aim of moving the discourse on relevant topics highlighted by her book forward, please complete the APA Affiliated Group Session and JPE Book Symposium Interest Form. Because the JPE requires the use of Google workspace tools, you will be required to log-in with a Google account to access the form. If you do not use your Gmail account on a regular basis, we recommend you set your Gmail to forward your emails to the email that you regularly use so you do not miss any correspondence from us. If you are interested in participating as a commentator, please complete the form, which includes uploading a copy of your CV, by July 31, 2025. We will contact you by August 15, 2025, with a decision regarding your expressed interest and any further details. 

Society for Philosophy of Emotion

Accepted commentators will be invited to present their commentaries during virtual (online only) book symposium, as a part of a Society for Philosophy of Emotion (SPE)-American Philosophical Association (APA) affiliated group session at the 2026 Pacific APA, which will be completely virtual. Commentaries for this book symposium are due to the author six (6) weeks before the SPE-APA session date, and author replies are due (3) weeks before the session date, in accordance with the APA meeting participation guidelines and prior to the due date for the JPE book symposium. 

Please note that commentators who agree to participate in this virtual (online only) book symposium will not be eligible for any funding assistance from the APA since only those who are presenting in an APA main program event are eligible for such funding. However, participants can also submit a paper for or agree to comment for an APA main program event and apply for APA funding if they are accepted, since APA main program participants are allowed to also participate in affiliated group sessions without any restrictions. Organizers will also be informed to avoid any scheduling conflicts. Participants would also be required to register for the 2026 Pacific APA conference, and be a member of the SPE at the time of their participation, which includes a one-time JPE submission fee waiver. An annual SPE membership is $35, with a discounted rate of $10 for graduate students and underemployed scholars. 

Journal of Philosophy of Emotion

Commentaries for the JPE will be due one month after the Society for Philosophy of Emotion (SPE)-American Philosophical Association (APA) affiliated group session for this book symposium (read below). We encourage a diversity of scholars of all ranks who are interested in participating as a commentator to respond to this CFP, provided that they are willing and able to commit to fulfilling the expectations set by the JPE's submission guidelines and the JPE’s double-anonymous peer review process. Please refer to past issues of the JPE for examples, and all submissions must adhere to the JPE’s style guideline (which includes a Google Doc manuscript template), and note that authors are responsible for providing all necessary DOIs and appropriately formatting their references. All contributors are also responsible for copyediting their own submissions and providing any requested citation information, although the JPE will also conduct a preliminary review and copyedit check of all submissions prior to sending them to peer review. No submission will be sent to peer review without the appropriate formatting, in accordance with the JPE style guidelines. The JPE also requires a submission fee of $35 or you can use your SPE one-time JPE submission fee waiver. 

Selection Criteria and Peer Refereeing

Commentators will be selected not only based on their qualifications, but also based on their cooperative compliance and the consideration for the value of diversity and inclusiveness among equally qualified commentators. Potential contributors are also welcome to let us know in their letter of interest in refereeing this book symposium if for some reason they were not invited to contribute a commentary, but would still like to contribute to the book symposium, or if they would rather referee the book symposium. All referees may also choose to be publicly acknowledged in a subsequent winter issue of the JPE. Referee's will also receive a free membership to the Society for Philosophy of Emotion, which includes a one time author submission fee waiver for the JPE, for the year of their membership.

SPE Membership Fee/JPE Manuscript Submission Fee

The JPE is an independently published, open-access journal, operating as a Public Charity under the US Treasury, 501(3)(c), 509(a)(2), and the SPE is an affiliate organization operating under the JPE's business license. All manuscript submission fees and membership fees go toward paying for operating costs and providing need based subventions to facilitate diverse and inclusive participation. Our completely transparent Financial Report is also made available for your review.