Forthcoming Issue – 57 (2/2028) – evolution/technology/culture
Guest edited by Piotr Gorliński-Kucik, Jerzy Stachowicz, and Weronika Nawrocka
Submission deadline: 15 September 2027

How are we to think of evolution beyond biology today? And how can we avoid reducing it to the banal metaphor of progress? The development of civilization in the first decades of the twenty-first century has fostered an intensification of apocalyptic and dystopian modes of thought—yet this by no means precludes thinking in evolutionary terms. On the contrary: evolutionary thinking may offer a particularly productive way of describing ambiguous trends and sudden transformations. Evolutionism remains an indispensable component of modern social imaginaries, even when it is not always recognized or explicitly named as such.

Evolution may be understood either as a gradual process or as an organizing principle governing transformations within complex systems, while evolutionism may be conceived as a body of methods and concepts employed to describe transformations in society, culture, and technology. The distinction, therefore, is between evolution as an object of inquiry and evolutionism as an analytical framework for describing processes of change.

While Darwinism remains the dominant paradigm within the natural sciences, both transformist approaches and Lamarckism may prove intellectually generative within the humanities and social sciences. The phenomenon and discourse of evolution should be examined in relation to materialism, which conceives of evolution as an immanent process devoid of telos, as well as to new materialism, within which evolution may be understood as an ontology of the differentiation of forms, as the ceaseless production of zoe, and matter itself as living and self-organizing within a relational process of becoming. Other perspectives, however, are equally significant: within idealist or essentialist frameworks, evolution becomes inscribed within a broader metaphysical order. It is therefore also important to emphasize the connections between evolutionary theory and humanistic reflection on the nature and development of technology.

The connections between evolutionary theory and humanistic reflection on the development of technology became apparent as early as four years after the publication of On the Origin of Species, with Samuel Butler’s famous essay Darwin among the Machines (1863). In recent years, the debate over the place of technology within concepts of evolutionary development has gained particular intensity amid the latest wave of interest in AI. In this context, especially significant are the links between evolutionism and quasi-religious forms of transhumanism, progressivism, and accelerationism, as well as the question of the role these formations may play in ideological legitimization of techno-capital.

How, then, can we describe the relations between evolution, technology, and culture without reducing them to a simple logic of progress? Does evolution remain a category for describing transformation, or does it also become a means of legitimizing it? How does its meaning change in the context of “new new” media, post-literacy, and the Anthropocene? We invite scholars in philosophy, literary studies, and other disciplines concerned with contemporary cultural forms and practices to address these problems.

Within the broader reflection on the relations between evolution/technology/culture, we welcome submissions addressing, among others, the following issues:

• philosophies of evolution and philosophies of evolutionism
• evolution as a category for describing transformations within complex systems
• the subject and object of evolution
• evolutionism in the service of ideology
• new materialism and evolution as a process of becoming
• technology: from the Enlightenment to artificial intelligence
• evolution as a mode of thought, imagination, and social imaginary
• metaphysical and essentialist approaches to evolution
• transformations of media, post-literacy, and modes of information exchange
• evolutionism as a framework for diagnosing trends and processes of civilizational change

Manuscripts, together with all required metadata, should be submitted via the OJS system by 15 September 2027, in accordance with the procedures described in the “About the Journal” and “For Authors” sections.

Submissions must include:

1. The Author’s full name
2. The Author’s institutional affiliation
3. The Author’s ORCID number (www.orcid.org)
4. The Author’s website address, if applicable
5. The Author’s email address
6. If the Author wishes to receive a complimentary hard copy of the journal, the postal address to which the copy should be sent
7. The title of the article
8. An abstract of 250–350 words
9. A biographical note on the Author of 250–350 words
10. Keywords (conforming to the WoS and SCOPUS standards)
11. The academic discipline(s) represented
12. The text of the article prepared in strict accordance with the Chicago Manual of Style (4,000–6,000 words)
13. A bibliography of works cited prepared in strict accordance with the Chicago Manual of Style
14. All illustrative materials in print-quality resolution (minimum 300 dpi)
15. In the case of copyrighted visual materials, all relevant permissions or licences obtained by the Author
16. A signed declaration concerning the use of artificial intelligence in the preparation of the manuscript, submitted together with the article and all required metadata
17. Declaration concerning the use of Artificial Intelligence (click here to download the form)

IMPORTANT: Incomplete submissions will be automatically rejected.

 FOR DETAILED TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS, PLEASE CONSULT THE “FOR AUTHORS” SECTION.