''The Philosophical Forum'' is a philosophy journal published by Wiley-Blackwell. It is currently edited by

Alexus McLeod Alexus is a given name and a surname. Notable people with this name include the following: Given name * Alexus Laird (born 1993), Seychellois swimmer Surname * Ajiona Alexus (born 1996), American actress See also *Alexis (disambiguation) *Alexi ...

History

''The Philosophical Forum'' was founded in 1943 as an annual philosophy journal, published by the

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...

Philosophical Club. The first editor was Sheldon C. Ackley. The first issue contained articles by Edgar S. Brightman,

David Easton David Easton (June 24, 1917 – July 19, 2014) was a Canadian-born American political scientist. From 1947 to 1997, he served as a professor of political science at the University of Chicago. At the forefront of both the behavioralist and post ...

, Robert Whitaker, and William E. Kerstetter. The journal continued to publish more or less annually until 1964. In its run it contained articles by many philosophers including

Paul Arthur Schilpp Paul Arthur Schilpp (; February 6, 1897 – September 6, 1993) was an American philosopher and educator. Biography Schilpp was born in Dillenburg, Germany and immigrated to the United States prior to World War I. Schilpp taught at Northwestern Un ...

, Hugo Adam Bedau,

Brand Blanshard Percy Brand Blanshard (; August 27, 1892 – November 19, 1987) was an American philosopher known primarily for his defense of reason and rationalism. A powerful polemicist, by all accounts he comported himself with courtesy and grace in philosop ...

, Abraham Edel, and Gordon W. Allport. ''The Philosophical Forum'' was reconstituted in 1968 under the editorship of Joseph Agassi. It was published quarterly by

's department of philosophy. The first issue contained articles by

Charles Hartshorne Charles Hartshorne (; June 5, 1897 – October 9, 2000) was an American philosopher who concentrated primarily on the philosophy of religion and metaphysics, but also contributed to ornithology. He developed the neoclassical idea of God and ...

, Sylvain Bromberger, and

Yehuda Elkana Yehuda Elkana (Hebrew: ‎; 16 June 193421 September 2012) was a historian and philosopher of science, and a former President and Rector of the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary. Life and career Born as László Fröhlich to ...

's translation of an article by

Ludwig Boltzmann Ludwig Eduard Boltzmann (; 20 February 1844 – 5 September 1906) was an Austrian physicist and philosopher. His greatest achievements were the development of statistical mechanics, and the statistical explanation of the second law of ther ...

. After two issues, Walter G. Emge took over as editor. He held the position for two issues until Marx Wartofsky took over editorship and reconstituted the Journal. When Wartofsky moved from

Baruch College Baruch College (officially the Bernard M. Baruch College) is a public college in New York City. It is a constituent college of the City University of New York system. Named for financier and statesman Bernard M. Baruch, the college operates unde ...

''The Philosophical Forum'' moved with him. Marx Wartofsky edited ''The Philosophical Forum'' until his death. William James Earle and then Douglas P. Lackey, both of Baruch College's Philosophy department, edited the ''Forum'' after Wartofsky's death. In 2022,

, of

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

, took over as editor the ''Forum,'' with the aim of expanding the international scope and methodological breadth of the journal.

Content

''The Philosophical Forum'' has been consistently publishing articles by prominent philosophers. The journal's approach to philosophy is rare. Marx Wartofsky had an extremely broad conception of philosophy that included

philosophy of science Philosophy of science is a branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. The central questions of this study concern what qualifies as science, the reliability of scientific theories, and the ult ...

political philosophy Political philosophy or political theory is the philosophical study of government, addressing questions about the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships between them. Its topics include politics, ...

, and

aesthetics Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed t ...

and many other branches of philosophy, from both sides of the philosophical spectrum, including analytic philosophy and continental philosophy. ''The Philosophical Forum'' continues to publish articles from many different philosophical traditions. The ''Forum'' is currently developing its international scope, with its aim "bridging the gap between philosophy in the West (both analytic and continental) and the philosophical traditions of the rest of the world. ''The Philosophical Forum'' aims to be a true global philosophical meeting place, featuring innovative work within and between philosophical traditions." ''The Philosophical Forum'' often publishes single-topic issues. Notably it has released issues on philosophy and

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

sociobiology Sociobiology is a field of biology that aims to examine and explain social behavior in terms of evolution. It draws from disciplines including psychology, ethology, anthropology, evolution, zoology, archaeology, and population genetics. Within ...

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

, African-American philosophical traditions,

race Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...

and ethnicity, the philosophy of Jerry Katz, translations of philosophical poetry, ethics and architecture, and translations of French philosophy of science. Future single-topic issues include issues on global philosophical traditions such as African Philosophy, Islamic Philosophy, Chinese Philosophy, and others.

References

Philosophy journals Wiley-Blackwell academic journals Academic journals established in 1943 {{philo-journal-stub