New Paths in the Philosophy of Imitating and Learning from Nature
A special issue of Philosophies (ISSN 2409-9287).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 March 2025 | Viewed by 236
Special Issue Editors
Interests: environmental philosophy; biomimicry; Martin Heidegger; philosophy of technology; autopoiesis
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Imitating and learning from nature form part of a widely recognized approach in almost all fields of innovation, from engineering and design to architecture and agriculture. Recent years have also seen a significant rise in philosophical interest in the topic, with philosophers of science and technology making important contributions to biomimetics and bioinspiration, and environmental philosophers focusing more on biomimicry, which underlines the normative, ethical, and sustainability aspects of the approach. The result is that many basic philosophical areas have now been covered in reasonable detail, including history and philosophy of nature-inspired design (Tamborini 2022, Gerola et al. 2023), the relationship to environmental ethics (Blok and Gremmen 2016, Dicks 2019), the epistemological importance of “learning from nature” (Dicks 2023), and even ontological discussions of nature (Mathews 2011). Further contributions to these debates are welcome, but we are particularly interested in philosophical analyses that address new and under-explored areas, including (i) applied fields, such as AI and robotics, military technologies, or environment and climate-focussed technologies; (ii) nature-inspired design as seen from the perspective of other humanities or social science disciplines, including art and literature, anthropology and sociology, development studies, law, economics, and politics; and (iii) the relation of nature-inspired design to other approaches, including bio-design, bio-hybridization, eco-conception, and nature-based solutions.
Dr. Henry Dicks
Dr. Marco Tamborini
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Philosophies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- biomimetics
- bioinspiration
- biomimicry
- environmental ethics
- philosophy of science
- philosophy of technology
- nature-inspired design
- learning from nature
- sustainability
- AI and robotics
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.
