Sapere Aude, the student-run undergraduate journal of philosophy at the College of Wooster since 2007, is currently accepting submissions for its upcoming volume, to be published in May 2025. All students enrolled in undergraduate programs worldwide during the 2024-2025 academic year are eligible to submit their work for consideration.
For this volume, Sapere Aude accepts two categories of philosophical works: academic essays and non-academic pieces. Authors can submit to both categories, with a maximum of one work per category. However, keep in mind that only one work per author will ultimately be published.
Academic essays are essays which contribute to one or more philosophical traditions in a novel and meaningful way. They should be between 2000 and 5000 words in length, not counting the bibliography, footnotes, or endnotes. They should also be carefully proofread, edited, and prepared according to the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition. In addition to novelty in their theses, essays are evaluated based on three other criteria: They should be readable; they should be well-organized; and they should contain clear and charitable interpretations of philosophical texts.
Non-academic pieces include poems and pieces of art. Although these pieces may be about any topic of choice, they should represent a meaningful effort to evoke philosophical concepts, ideas, or arguments. Authors of these submissions will have the opportunity to send, as a separate document, a think piece of up to 500 words either explaining their work, philosophizing, making the relevant connections to a school of thought, or all of the above. Evaluation of non-academic pieces is based on how original and creative they are, whether they demonstrate mastery of poetry and the arts, as well as how well the accompanying think pieces demonstrate an understanding of philosophy.
To eliminate personal bias during the review process, the editorial board has traditionally practiced double-blind peer review. To this end, we ask that authors take appropriate care to anonymize their submissions so that no personal information is present in the submission itself. Instead, we ask that authors send, in addition to their submission, a biographical paragraph of up to 200 words containing their name, class year, institution, and any other personal information they feel comfortable sharing with readers of Sapere Aude, should their submission be considered for publication.
The deadline for submission is February 10, 2025, at 11:59PM. All submissions are to be sent to sapere_aude@wooster.edu by this date. Submissions should be sent in the format of png. for pieces of art, and docx. for essays and poems. All correspondence is to be carried out through this email.