Journal: Esercizi Filosofici
Issue: Language(s) of Propaganda
Call Deadline: 31-Jan-2026

We are inviting paper submissions to the special issue of Esercizi Filosofici entitled: Language(s) of Propaganda

Guest Editors:
Irene Lo Faro, University of Bamberg;
Caterina Lupieri, University of Trieste.

Description:
The term propaganda is commonly associated with the public discourse typical of totalitarian regimes, where a body promoting propaganda – usually the government – manipulates the public into believing and acting in a certain way. According to this understanding, propaganda appeals to emotions, serves despicable ends, and employs lies; hence, it carries a morally negative connotation. These purposes are contrary to democratic values; accordingly, in a democracy, it is expected that public discourse should never be propagandistic. Yet, scholars have challenged these conceptions of propaganda claiming that a form of propaganda in democracies does exist and that propaganda in general is not necessarily morally negative. Among the more recent influential works is Stanley (2015), which distinguishes between two forms of propaganda: supporting and undermining (for critical discussions of this distinction see, for example, Bonard et al. 2024, Cepollaro & Torrengo 2020, Táíwò 2020, Mills 2018). According to him, they both appeal to non-rational means, but it is the second type, undermining propaganda, that he considers more dangerous for a democracy. This is because through emotional means, it apparently promotes certain worthy political ideals while actually “undermining” them. Consequently, this form of propaganda is not easy to detect. In addition, we already tend to think that we won’t find propaganda in a democracy. It is therefore challenging for the public to discern what is propaganda and what is not. With this in mind, researchers today investigate the ways in which propaganda appears in democratic societies; the new and most insidious means of propaganda today and the possible overlap of propaganda with advertisement, persuasion, rhetoric, or strategic communication among other issues.

In his work, Stanley (2015) focuses primarily on how propaganda is conveyed linguistically. With this approach, notions such as dogwhistles (Quaranto 2022, Saul 2018, Howdle 2023), code words (Khoo 2017), and figleaves (Saul 2017) become relevant, intersecting with linguistic theories such as speech act theory (see, e.g., acts of subordination in Langton 1993) and hate speech studies (Petrilli 2020, Bianchi 2021, McGowan 2019, Anderson et al. 2025). Moreover, this perspective engages with the longstanding linguistic research on propaganda, ranging from the study of semantics and lexicon of propagandistic language to the online detection of propaganda through its linguistic features (Fleming 1995, Ghani 2010, Irfan et al. 2019). However, as Klemperer (1947) already argued in his work on the language of the Third Reich, propaganda is not limited to linguistic means: non-linguistic forms (songs, images, parades, buildings, even silence) can also be interpreted as propaganda (Sapag et al. 2023, Kolhatkar & Ingalls 2006, Geoboers & Pilipets 2024, Karagülle & Hidayati, 2025).

This special issue aims to develop further studies on propaganda and to take stock of the scholarly contributions to the study of propaganda, beginning with its philosophical and linguistic challenges. Furthermore, it seeks to develop specific areas of empirical research that are especially timely and that, in turn, raise new theoretical questions – for instance, the renewed relationship between propaganda and contemporary mass communication platforms (Facebook, X, TikTok, etc.) and the role assumed by propaganda in light of recent global geopolitical developments. In addition, we welcome interdisciplinary submissions that can complement qualitative philosophical studies with quantitative linguistic research.

To contribute to the current debate on propaganda, we invite submissions addressing (but not limited to) the following themes:
- Propaganda and political discourse: the role and forms of propaganda in contemporary democracies.
- “Covert” propaganda: linguistic and non-linguistic strategies such as dogwhistles, code words, figleaves, etc.
- Propaganda in pernicious communicative contexts: hate speech, conspiracy theories, polarization.
- Propaganda and social media: new tools and new agents of propaganda.
- Recognising and countering propaganda.

Online Submission:
Submission Deadline: Papers must be submitted by January 31, 2026. If an extension of the deadline is needed, please contact the editors.
All submitted papers will undergo a double-blind peer review process.

The outcome of the review process will be communicated by March 31, 2026. The possible outcomes of the review are: a) accepted as it is; b) accepted with minor revisions; c) accepted with major revisions; d) not accepted. In the case of revisions, the deadline for resubmitting the revised paper according to the reviewers’ feedback is April 30, 2026. The issue will be published in June 2026

Contributions may be submitted in either Italian or English. Submissions should present the results of original studies, both theoretical and historical, within the broader field of philosophical inquiry. Manuscripts must not have been previously published or be under consideration for publication in another journal. Each submission should include an abstract of 600-800 characters (including spaces) and 5 keywords, both in English and Italian. The length of the papers should be approximately 40,000 characters (including spaces). Please send the manuscripts as .doc or .docx file attachments to the email address: [email protected]. All submitted papers will undergo a double-blind peer review process.

Author Submission Guidelines:
Authors are asked to prepare their manuscripts according to the journal’s standard (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-KAMzy0J_2NIu4jcjmuHM7y6WHXUi-pw/view) and template (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-_QE4ALWK_Ja1_rTZIPwi_pfQ8HZ1CBV/edit?rtpof=true&sd=true)

To download this CfP click here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1g_spo6_s5gNFwdoPeOiSHXOH3skIvUhk/view

Contact:
For any questions, please directly contact:
Irene Lo Faro, [email protected]
Caterina Lupieri, [email protected]

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics
Discourse Analysis
General Linguistics
Philosophy of Language
Pragmatics