Dimensions of Normative Strength

Call for Papers

This special issue examines whether reasons have more than one weight value and, if so, what the implications are for normative theory.

Unidimensionalists (aka: weight monists) say that there is just the weight of reasons, and multidimensionalists (aka: weight pluralists) claim that reasons have more than one weight value, such as justifying, requiring, and commending/favoring weight. Other multidimensionalist theories use different terminology and, e.g., distinguish between reasons and prerogatives. We hope to find 3-5 relevant papers from this open call to complement the invited submissions from:

• Robert Audi (University of Notre Dame)

• Selim Berker (Harvard University)

• Alan Goldman (W&M, Emeritus)

• Kerah Gordon-Solmon (Queens University)

• Michael Huemer (University of Colorado)

• Anne Jeffrey (Baylor University)

• Maggie Little (Georgetown University) & Coleen Macnamara (California-Riverside)

• Daniel Muñoz (UNC-Chapel Hill)

• Shyam Nair (Arizona State University)

• Eva Schmidt (TU Dortmund)

• Mark Schroeder (University of Southern California)

Possible topics of especial interest:

• Papers that apply or reject multidimensionalism in normative domains beyond morality and practical rationality, such as epistemology, political philosophy, and aesthetics.

• Papers that integrate multidimensionalism within some formal framework or papers arguing that it conflicts with some formal framework (e.g., decision theory, default logic, formal measurement theories, confirmation theory, etc.).

• Papers that apply or reject multidimensionalism for attitude(s), such as admiration, fear, shame, praise, blame, belief, or credences. It is an added bonus when such papers also discuss the relationship of fittingness to the multidimensionalist’s gambit.

Other possible topics include (but are not limited to):

• New developments, refinements, or applications of multidimensionalism.

• Objections to multidimensionalism, certain version of it, or certain applications of it.

• Defenses of unidimensionalism that are designed to address the phenomena that allegedly motivate multidimensionalism.

• Methodologies for determining how weighty reasons are or whether reasons have more than one weight value.

• Explanations of how multidimensionalism interacts (or fails to interact) with other normative concepts, distinctions, and phenomena, such as fittingness, the difference between reasons for/against, the individuation of options/alternatives, weighing reasons, reactive attitudes, normative pluralism, conditions and modifiers, suberogation, small improvement puzzles, epistemic permissivism, etc.

Submission DEADLINE: Please submit your paper by January 10th, 2026. When possible, it is advisable to submit earlier to provide yourself more time to work on a hypothetical revision. For initial decisions of revise and resubmit, we expect the revision to be due July 15th, 2026.

Submission GUIDELINES: Please use the journal’s online submissions system (Editorial Manager) and select SI: Dimensions of Normative Strength for the article type. We cannot give your paper consideration unless the correct special issue is selected. Please prepare manuscripts according to the Philosophical Studies’ submission guidelines. Two items are of special note. First, the journal has a defeasible preference for papers under 10k words but longer papers will be considered. Second, submitting a manuscript implies that it is neither previously published nor currently under consideration for publication elsewhere.

EDITORIAL DETAILS:

• All papers will undergo the journal’s standard review procedure (double-blind peer-review), according to the journal’s Peer Review Policy, Process and Guidance.

• This journal offers the option to publish Open Access. You are allowed to publish open access through Open Choice. Please explore the OA options available through your institution by referring to our list of OA Transformative Agreements.

CONTACT: For any questions, including about whether a topic is relevant to the special issue, please directly contact the Lead Guest Editor: Chris Tucker (cstucker@wm.edu)