To what extent does the production of worldviews help to establish guidance values for our choices? How do we communicate if our visions of things are so different in spite of shared values? How do we communicate and how do we meet with people whose view of things (owing to, for example, a delusion) is so far from “normal”?
Within this problematic landscape, Karl Jaspers, with his General Psychopathology (1913), but in particular with his Psychology of Worldviews (1919), is a useful conceptual reference. In fact, the Psychology of Worldviews, which is the work of Jaspers’ transition from psychology to philosophy, and which is therefore structurally characterized by an interdisciplinary perspective, can offer itself as a productive reference tool for constructing an approach capable of holding together the specificities of the various different disciplines that study mankind. In addition to the well-known and distinctive concepts of Jaspers’ philosophy of existence of “extreme situations” or “loving struggle”, it is above all thanks to the concepts of Weltanschauung (“worldview”) and Gehäuse (shell) that Jaspers gives us precious reading tools for the understanding of our time. The careful historico-conceptual reconstruction and theoretical framework introduced by Jaspers allow us to represent the multiplicity of perspectives, yet without falling into a relativistic position. Of particular interest is the little-studied concept of Gehäuse, which is presented as structurally twofold. On the one hand, the “shell” may be intended as a stiffening of a worldview to the point of becoming a “cage”; on the other, it may instead represent one’s safety horizon within a world of shared meaning and common values. The aim of this volume, starting from a phenomenological analysis of subjective and objective worldviews, is to try to understand how the analysis of these seemingly antithetical structures may offer new possibilities of dialogue between different methodological perspectives. It is also intended to investigate the relationship between the various forms of housing or wrapping, and whether the distinction between types of enclosures might serve as a heuristic tool for understanding the complexity of existence both at a theoretical and philosophical level, and at the pragmatic level of psychiatric care.

Submission guidelines: Submission can be made in English, Italian, French, and German and should not exceed 9,000 words including abstract, references and footnotes. Manuscripts are welcome in English, Italian, German or French. They should be prepared for anonymous refereeing and sent by email attachment in Microsoft Word together with a .pdf version to Stefania Achella (stefania.achella@unich.it; stefaniaachella@gmail.com).  Contributions are sent to two independent reviewers in a double-blind procedure prior to the publication decision. Authors may be requested to change or improve their articles when suggested by reviewers. Please attach both a fully blinded version of your paper as a “Manuscript” and a separate “Cover page” indicating full name of the authors, academic title, university affiliation and full contact details. The submission should contain an abstract in English, not exceeding 150 words, and 5 Keywords. For further details, please see guidelines (all submissions will be acknowledged). Submitted manuscripts can be formatted in any clear and consistent style, but authors finalizing their papers for publication will be required to hand in a final version that respects the journal’s stylistic rules (download Style guidelines). Submission of a manuscript is understood to imply that the paper has not been published before and is not being considered for publication by any other journal. The publication of the papers implies that authors waive the copyright; they could request the copyright to the journal for future publication of them.

Deadline for submission: October  31, 2016.

Notification of acceptance, conditional acceptance, rejection: December 31, 2016.

Final version due: January 31, 2017.