Call for Papers

Locus special issue: Intelligence

Host-editors: Tom Giesbers (philosophy) and Marjolein van Herten (literary studies)

In society, we see a remarkable and dual relationship with intelligence. On the one hand, we have a high regard for experts and smart labor is often prioritized in the labor market. On the other hand, classic tendencies toward anti-intellectualism (Hofstadter, 1963) have recently taken new and more intense forms.

Positions of experts are associated with conspiracy theories and with the proliferation of mass media it seems to be the highest good to gain as many views as possible. Moreover, access to Artificial Intelligence through approachable chatbots such as ChatGPT may foster intellectual development, while simultaneously reducing the scope of our outlook on the world.

At the same time, our ways of quantifying and qualifying intelligence are constantly disputed. IQ measurements, for example, are particularly prone to racial bias and measure only a limited interpretation of intelligence: emotional and social intelligence are mostly left out.

With the advent of the current generation of generative AI, the time has come to ask whether talking about intelligence actually serves us all that much (Malabou, 2019).

In a special issue on Intelligence, Locus explores this multifaceted concept to gain insight into the dichotomy between intellectualism and anti-intellectualism. Are we outsourcing our intellectual labor to generative AI, and might this constitute a new form of anti-intellectualism?

Possible topics

  • Analyses of artificial intelligence such as comparative intelligences (human, non-human/artificial, divergent)
  • Critical discussions of standards of intelligence measurement
  • The social, historical, medical, political and/or economic role of intelligence and anti-intelligence
  • Intelligibility as a condition of analysis, criticism and/or creativity
  • Praise of stupidity, the ravages of intelligence
  • Intellect in class dynamics or bubble formation
  • Neurodivergence and giftedness in education
  • Alpha, beta and gamma intelligence

Submission details

Article proposals (maximum 200 words + provisional title + a bio) can be submitted to locus@ou.nl until October 8.

Notifications of acceptance will be sent by September 15. The deadline for full draft contributions is December 15. Publication is scheduled for Spring 2026.

Research articles should range from 3,000–5,000 words (excluding endnotes and bibliography).

Author instructions: https://locus.ou.nl/locus-tvc/about-locus

Critically framed artwork, videos/vlogs and podcasts are also welcome (if technically possible to include in Locus).