Björn Lundgren has argued that failure to sufficiently engage with the relevant literature is not a reason to reject a philosophy paper. I reply that there are in fact reasons to reject papers that fail to sufficiently engage. These papers are often unclear, their lack of engagement results in their failing to push the literature forward, and by leaving it to others to incorporate these papers into the literature, the authors of these papers treat others unfairly and put a burden on others, such…
Read moreBjörn Lundgren has argued that failure to sufficiently engage with the relevant literature is not a reason to reject a philosophy paper. I reply that there are in fact reasons to reject papers that fail to sufficiently engage. These papers are often unclear, their lack of engagement results in their failing to push the literature forward, and by leaving it to others to incorporate these papers into the literature, the authors of these papers treat others unfairly and put a burden on others, such that journals can justifiably reject the papers. I respond to the objection that requiring literature engagement will constrain creativity and then discuss a reason that could count in favor of accepting papers despite a lack of sufficient engagement.
