Folia Philosophica 2028/1

Guest editors: Alicja Pietras and Luis F. Mendoza Martínez

Nicolai Hartmann (1882-1950) pursued one of the most ambitious philosophical projects in the first half of the 20th century: a new philosophia prima, which was named critical ontology (kritische Ontologie). That project implied renewed historical and systematic reflections on cognition, ethics, history, society, reality, ideality, modality, nature, life, psyche, spirit, and aesthetics. Despite their loss, Hartmann also tackled matters of logic, and logical ideas can be easily found in the remaining works. It was a whole-encompassing project, a task to be done, for which Hartmann had offered the basic guidelines, the so-called Grundzüge.

     In the aftermath of the Second World War, most intellectuals turned their attention to understanding what had recently happened. Apparently, there was no room for “abstract” ontology. However, Hartmann’s works show that his project is far from detached from real events. His intention was, from the beginning, to grow an ontology from our earthly, living, psychic, and historical conditions, which demanded a deeper understanding of the world as it is. This demand is not perishable but perennial. In this vein, we welcome papers that address Hartmann’s idea of critical ontology, its relevance, its potential, and its limitations. We also welcome papers that reflect on traditional and contemporary philosophical questions through the insights of the Hartmannian project of a critical ontology.

Possible areas of contribution include:

• Hartmann’s Ontology and Axiology in the Context of Environmental Philosophy
• Hartmann’s Ontology and Axiology in the Context of Contemporary Social Ontology
• Hartmann’s Ethics in Contemporary Debates
• Hartmann’s Relevance in Aesthetics
• Hartmann’s Gnoseology and the Problem of Dynamization of A Priori
• The Meaning of Hartmann’s Distinction Between Ontology and Metaphysics
• Hartmann’s Ontology and Other Ontological Projects of the Twentieth and Twenty-First Century
• Hartmann’s Idea of Stratified Ontology in the Debate of Interdisciplinarity
• Hartmann’s Concept of Spiritual Being and Its Relationship with Politics
• Hartmann’s Project of Metaphysics and History of Aporias
• Hartmann and His Context: Philosophy of Life, Neokantianism, Phenomenology, and Philosophical Anthropology
• Hartmann’s Main Interlocutors: Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Hegel
• Hartmann in the Marxist Tradition: Lukacs, Harich
• Hartmann’s Influence on the American Continent

We will also consider submissions dealing with other issues and themes related to the thought of Nicolai Hartmann.

Please submit manuscripts via the Folia Philosophica Online Journal System by November 15, 2026: https://journals.us.edu.pl/index.php/FOLIA/about/submissions

IMPORTANT: Incomplete submissions will be automatically rejected.