Call for Abstracts

Beyond Anthropocentrism: Non-human Agents and Objects in Science
For 2025 issue of the journal Spontaneous Generations
https://www.acpcpa.ca/articles/call-for-abstracts-beyond-anthropocentrism-non-human-agents-and-objects-in-science

Deadline for submission of abstracts: December 31, 2024

Spontaneous Generations graduate journal for the history and philosophy of science and technology at the University of Toronto, invites abstract submissions for 2025’s issue on non-human agents and objects in science. We invite submissions from the history of science, philosophy of science, and science and technology studies broadly construed. A description of the issue’s topic and submission details follows.

Traditional studies of science focus on human theorizing and human actions while viewing non-human factors as ancillary. Here, we aim to highlight the role of non-human objects and agents in science. How do non-humans contribute to or co-produce scientific knowledge? What kinds of science emerge from interactions with non-humans? What are the epistemological and practical implications of relegating non-human actors and natural processes to an ancillary role in scientific inquiry?

For this issue, we encourage authors to conceive of “non-humans” quite broadly: tools, machines, artifacts, animals, artworks, networks, algorithms, and more.

The following are some potential themes to explore:

• What makes an artifact a scientific tool? What epistemic role do tools play in science?
• Do animals, AI, or other non-human agents have knowledge?
• How do biological organisms shape how science is done?
• What is the role of biomimicry/biomimetics in the sciences?
• How have certain technologies reshaped how science is done throughout history?
• What are the relationships between instruments, measurements, and theory?
• How has science been represented in or inspired by art?
• To what degree are models in science autonomous from human agents?
• What are the epistemological implications of framing natural phenomena as optimization processes in nature-inspired algorithms?
• What are the disadvantages of predominantly anthropocentric science studies? What perspectives do non-human agents and objects add?

Please submit an abstract of less than 500 words by December 31, 2024, at the following link: https://forms.gle/cWQiEFRh8YTYV8VU8

Successful applicants will be notified in January of 2025, and will be expected to submit a full paper of 8000 words or less by the end of March. The papers will then be peer-reviewed by the end of May. Publication is slated for June 2025.

For any inquiries, please contact us at spontaneousgenerations2025@gmail.com