Beyond postmodernism: Evolutionary culturalism as a reconstructive philosophy

This essay proposes a reconstructive framework, evolutionary culturalism, that extends postmodern critique while addressing its limits. Postmodernism revealed the contingency of identity and meaning, but it often left unexplained why certain structures persist or reappear. Evolutionary culturalism approaches this gap by drawing on evolutionary biology and systems theory to show how culture emerges within adaptive limits. Institutions and norms are read not as arbitrary inventions but as stabilising responses to recurring pressures. Language is reframed as an evolutionary interface, enabling cooperation and abstraction rather than positing reality as self-originating. By situating culture as both contingent and constrained, evolutionary culturalism avoids the extremes of relativism and determinism. Its purpose is not to dismantle meaning indefinitely but to reconstruct it from within the recursive dynamics of living systems, retaining postmodernism’s attentiveness to power while grounding meaning in the logics of adaptation. This version of the manuscript is currently under consideration at Biological Theory (Springer Nature).