Call for Papers: HW Vol 26, No 80 (2027): TRANS-ANTHROPOCENTRISM: TOWARDS “NEW” ETHICS
Currently, humanities and social sciences provide an increasing number of arguments that challenge the traditional strong discourse that emphasises the uniqueness of humankind. They are supported by an assumption on the complexity of the processes and interrelations between human and non-human (animal, plant, robotic, laboratory, etc.) entities both on the Earth and online, but also in the projects of expanse into outer space. Therefore, one should not be surprised by the ongoing debates on the problems of the threats and opportunities for human and non-human entities that result from the possibilities carried by science and technology in the 21st century.
These are the contexts of frequently emerging, “rebellious” statements on the condition of man in a world, in which humankind has made itself even more than comfortable and our subjectivity. Subjectivity that is restricted to homo sapiens only seems to be abusive and is becoming outdated, similarly to structuring personality in terms of body and soul, spirit and matter. Due to that, the proposals where the soul, spirit, or spirituality are treated as mental constructs, subjected to interpretations on the ways of their existence and understanding that are far from the practical meanings, related mainly to the Western culture, seem to be justified (or are they?). Yet, on the other hand, some part of them might be worth preserving. Is “transformed” spirituality necessary on order to ethically (how?) - to position oneself not only among human and non-human subjectivities but also in relation to the world in which they (still) exist?
We propose the following topical areas:
- What is human presence and what it might be like among fellow human entities and non-human subjects?
- what human spirituality means or may mean in a space-time continuum where the divisions oriented at human uniqueness in the world are disappearing?
- what is and what might be the status/position/significance of soul studies in those sciences whose anthropological foundations cannot survive without the concept?
- do animals and so-called inanimate matter have souls and do they conduct a spiritual life?
- Can technological imagination, which is an enormous power in shaping human life both here and anow and in the future, replace the imagination of soul, spirit, and spirituality? What might the consequences be?
- What kind of ethics of human existence in the world may (still) be discussed in the Anthropocene and post-Anthropocene world? How can ethical sensitivity and imagination (what?) be applied for and towards existing in the trans-Anthropocene spacetime?
We do not expect firm and final statements. To the contrary, we hope to open a wide, long-term debate in various fields of science
Issue Editor: Anna Mikołajewicz, Bernadetta Żynis
Release: December 2027
Submissions before: 30 June 2027
Submissions directly at: https://horyzontywychowania.ignatianum.edu.pl/HW
