Aims & Scope
We welcome work that theorizes across disciplines, operationalizes big-picture models that integrate philosophy and the special sciences, and translates such synthesis into real-world practice—spanning education, governance, ecology, mental health, leadership, technology, and culture, to name some. We feature contributions that bridge critique and construction, analysis and synthesis, method and metatheory. We seek work that does more than juxtapose disciplines: submissions should analyze and synthesize theories, methods, and evidence into integrative frameworks that increase both explanatory power and practical utility. Integration may take the form of meta-studies, metamodels, cross-pollination between schools of thought, or architectures that allow heterogeneous methods to interoperate. We welcome quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods, computational, and formal approaches, as well as hermeneutic and design-science traditions. Regardless of method, we expect clarity about assumptions, claims calibrated to evidence, transparent procedures, and explicit reflexivity regarding the positionality of the researcher and the limitations of the research.
We especially encourage bridges between post-postmodern intellectual lineages like metamodernism, integral philosophy, critical realism, complexity science, process thought, and related traditions—provided authors show how plural perspectives are critically analyzed, negated, and/or coordinated rather than merely aggregated. Strong papers make their evaluative or validity criteria explicit (e.g., internal coherence, construct validity, correspondence, generativity) and test propositions against rival explanations.
Developing Frameworks for Analysis and Integration of Knowledge
Critically evaluating the theory that underlies integrative frameworks, as well as designing and refining those frameworks that draw from both scientific and philosophical metatheory, bringing insights from the sciences, humanities, and arts into dialogue while maintaining the rigor of individual disciplines.Evolution Across Scales
Exploring how cosmic, biological, cognitive, and cultural evolution can be understood as interconnected processes (e.g., a big history), and what these deep-time perspectives reveal about humanity’s present challenges and possibilities.Complexity and Systems Approaches
Applying complexity science and systems thinking to better understand, map, and address the interdependent problems facing societies and ecosystems.Transformations in Worldview
Studying how worldviews change in response to social, ecological, and technological pressures, and how such transformations might foster more coherent and adaptive global cultures.Cultural Shifts in the 21st Century
Using second person and transjective methods to analyze emerging cultural patterns and their expressions in politics, media, and the arts, with an eye toward how they signal broader transformations in values and worldviews.Technology, AI, and Collective Intelligence
Assessing how artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies can be designed, contained, and aligned to enhance human capacity for integrative thinking, cooperation, and wisdom.Science, Religion, and Ultimate Concern
Exploring constructive dialogue between science and religion—including secular and post-secular spiritualities, philosophy, and theology—with a focus on inter-spiritual engagement, sciences of interiority, and philosophical analyses that move beyond the polarities of materialist science and dogmatic religion toward integrative “third way” approaches to questions of meaning and ultimate concern.Responses to the Global Metacrisis
Investigating integrative strategies for addressing the interconnected social, ecological, ethical, epistemic, and existential challenges of our time, with a focus on uncovering root causes at the level of worldview, culture, and social institutions.Practices for Integration
Identifying and evaluating real-world practices—educational, organizational, or cultural—that cultivate integrative thinking and foster collaboration across perspectives.Applications of Big-Picture Frameworks
Exploring how integrative and metatheoretical perspectives can be concretely applied to specific domains at micro-, meso- and macro-levels of analysis—such as economics, ecology, education, governance, art, and health—to generate new insights and guide transformative action.
Integrative Metatheory 2.0
In contrast to earlier forms of “old school” integrative metatheory (Metatheory 1.0, often aligned with modernist, positivist, and overly totalizing tendencies), Integrative Metatheory 2.0 is proposed as a framework and meta-studies program fit for the twenty-first century and the unprecedented challenges of the planetary metacrisis. Recognizing that all metatheorizing carries an axiological dimension, this newer orientation embraces reflexivity and pluralism while retaining a commitment to rigor and realism. Integrative Metatheory 2.0 can be understood as a form of big-picture theorizing—concerned with theory about theory, or theory beyond first-order theory—emerging at the nexus of philosophy and science. It is grounded in four interrelated principles: methodological transparency and judgmental rationalism; epistemic reflexivity and relativity; ontological realism and comprehensiveness; and integrative pluralism. These criteria provide both a critical safeguard and a constructive orientation for developing metatheory that is simultaneously integrative, rigorous, and responsive to the deep complexities of our historical moment.
Integration is dedicated to cultivating and showcasing work in the spirit of Integrative Metatheory 2.0, providing a venue where philosophy and science meet in service of addressing the metacrisis and fostering pathways toward more coherent, adaptive, and flourishing futures.
Integration is currently inviting submissions for its inaugural issue. Manuscripts that advance the field of metatheoretical synthesis and coordination of big picture models are especially encouraged. Please submit your manuscript by January 15, 2026, to be considered for publication in this issue.