Welcome to the website of the Journal of Controversial Ideas, the first open access, peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary journal specifically created to promote free inquiry on controversial topics.
The Journal of Controversial Ideas offers a forum for careful, rigorous, unpolemical discussion of issues that are widely considered controversial, in the sense that certain views about them might be regarded by many people as morally, socially, or ideologically objectionable or offensive. The journal offers authors the option to publish their articles under a pseudonym, in order to protect themselves from threats to their careers or physical safety. We hope that this will also encourage readers to attend to the arguments and evidence in an essay rather than to who wrote it. Pseudonymous authors may choose to claim the authorship of their work at a later time, or to reveal it only to selected people (such as employers or prospective employers), or to keep their identity undisclosed indefinitely. Standard submissions using the authors’ actual names are also encouraged.
We welcome submissions in all areas of academic research insofar as the topics discussed are relevant to society at large.
We aim to publish papers that are likely to advance knowledge and promote free inquiry and rational argumentation. The main criterion for acceptance will be the quality of the arguments given.
We will consider articles that discuss issues or policies in non-Western cultures that may not be controversial in the West but are sufficiently controversial elsewhere that critically discussing them could endanger authors. We also welcome papers that discuss well-known controversial topics from diverse cultural, philosophical, moral, political, and religious perspectives.
We hope that this journal will show the value of embracing controversy as a means of getting closer to the truth, advancing knowledge, and reforming social and cultural paradigms. We believe, with John Stuart Mill, that even when mainstream views are true or justified, if they are never challenged, they risk becoming dead dogmas rather than living truths.
The Journal of Controversial Ideas is not affiliated with any institution and does not support any beliefs or doctrines other than freedom of thought and expression. It is privately funded through donations. Please consider making a donation, thereby helping us to promote free inquiry.
Thank you for visiting our website.
Jeff McMahan
Francesca Minerva
Peter Singer
Logo by Filippo Menghi
