Emergent Evolutionary Holism and Utopian Horizon Value Theory: Our Next Step Forward

Glen Theron Martin

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijp.20261404.11

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Emergent Evolutionary Holism and Utopian Horizon Value Theory: Our Next Step Forward

Glen Theron Martin^*

Published in International Journal of Philosophy (Volume 14, Issue 4)

Received: 14 September 2026 Accepted: 28 September 2026 Published: 29 October 2026

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Abstract

My lifelong quest has been to address the problem of nihilism raised so forcefully by the work of Nietzsche in the 19^th century. This nihilism remains, of course, very much manifest in the current world disorder. This quest was indicated in the title of my first book, From Nietzsche to Wittgenstein: The Problem of Truth and Nihilism in the Modern World (1989). In the course of this quest, I have encountered two fundamental dimensions of human existence that bring us beyond nihilism: first, the mystical realization of the unspeakable oneness of existence which is present at all times in the background of our experience, the eternal now that frames all human thought and action. Second is the temporal, emergent evolutionary upsurge to actualize the values arising from the Cosmic evolutionary process. With a host of others, some of whom are reviewed in this paper, I argue that the “One” (as it is called) is going someplace through the emergent evolutionary upsurge of the Cosmos. Human beings have evolved to facilitate this process. The two dimensions (time and timelessness), of course, are necessarily intertwined. Nevertheless, this essay focuses on this second dimension of human existence that likewise overcomes nihilism. It discusses the “early-modern background” from which we are emerging, the question of language and its symbols, contemporary “spirituality,” our increasing understanding of Cosmic evolution, the key role of Kant’s “Transcendental Unity of Apperception (TUA),” the concept of “Utopian Horizon” deriving from these reflections, and the conclusion concerning “our next step forward.” It brings together viewpoints of many thinkers to develop an overview of our human situation revealing the fundamental role of the future, human ethical values, and our utopian horizon. In closing, it considers our next step forward in the form of an Earth Federation.

Published in	International Journal of Philosophy (Volume 14, Issue 4)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijp.20261404.11
Page(s)	133-147
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2026. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Emergent Evolution, Holism, Transcendental Self, Utopia, Temporality, Earth Constitution

References

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[2]	Kant, Immanuel, Critique of Pure Reason, trans. Norman Kemp Smith. (New York, St. Martin’s Press), 1965, p. 635.
[3]	For example, Martin, Glen T. Human Dignity and World Order: The Holistic Foundations of Global Democracy. (Lanham, NJ, Hamilton Books), 2024.
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[38]	Bloch, Ernst, A Philosophy of the Future. Trans. John Cumming. (New York: Herder & Herder Publisher), 1970, p. 96.
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[40]	Kant, Immanuel, Critique of Pure Reason, trans. Norman Kemp Smith. (New York, St. Martin’s Press), 1965, sections A107-110.
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[58]	Macy, Samuel L. ed., Encyclopedia of Time. (New York: Garland Publishing), 1994, and Sherover, Charles M., The Human Experience of Time: The Development of Its Philosophic Meaning. (New York: New York U. Press), 1975.
[59]	Heidegger, Martin, Being and Time. Trans. Trans. Macquarrie and Robinson. (New York, Harper & Row), 1962, pp. 476-77.
[60]	Heidegger, Martin, Being and Time. Trans. Trans. Macquarrie and Robinson. (New York, Harper & Row), 1962, p. 372.
[61]	Levinas, Emmanuel, Totality and Infinity. Trans. Alphonso Lingis. (Pittsburg, Duquesne University Press), 1985, p. 28.
[62]	Levinas, Emmanuel, Totality and Infinity. Trans. Alphonso Lingis. (Pittsburg, Duquesne University Press), 1985, p. 61
[63]	Habermas, Jürgen, The Future of Human Nature. Trans. William Rehg, et al. (Cambridge, UK, Polity Pess), 2003, p. 63.
[64]	Bloch, Ernst, A Philosophy of the Future. Trans. John Cumming. (New York: Herder & Herder Publisher), 1970, p. 77.
[65]	Marsh, James L., Critique, Action, and Liberation. (Albany, SUNY Press), 1995, p. 333.
[66]	Delio, Ilia, The Not-Yet God: Carl Jung, Teilhard de Chardin and the Relational Whole. (Maryknoll, NY, Orbis Books), 2023.
[67]	Tillich, Paul, The Essential Tillich. Ed. F. Forrester Church. (Chicago, U. of Chicago Press), 1987, p.143.
[68]	Polak, Fredrick L., “Utopia and Cultural Renewal.” In Frank E. Manuel, ed., Utopia and Utopian Thought: A Timely Appraisal. (Boston, Beacon Press), 1967, p. 287.
[69]	Buber, Martin, “The Question of the Single One.” In Joseph J. Kockelmans, ed., Contemporary European Ethics: Selected Readings. (Garden City, NJ, Doubleday & Co.), 1972, pp. 437-38.
[70]	Smuts, Jan Christian, Holism and Evolution. (Gouldsboro, ME, The Gestalt Journal Press), 1986, pp. 245-46.
[71]	Panikkar, Raimon, Myth, Faith, and Hermeneutics: Cross-Cultural Studies. (New York: Paulist Press), 1979, p. 448.
[72]	Wittgenstein, Ludwig, “Wittgenstein’s Lecture on Ethics.” Philosophical Review, 1965, January issue (no digital copy available).
[73]	Bloch, Ernst, The Utopian Function of Art and Literature: Selected Essays. Trans. Jack Zipes and Frank Mechlenburg. (Cambridge, The MIT Press), 1988, p.17.
[74]	Kant, Immanuel, Perpetual Peace and Other Essays. Trans. Ted Humphrey. (New York: Hackett Publishers), 1983. See his essays on “Perpetual Peace” and “On That Old Saw.”
[75]	Earth Constitution Institute. Preamble. Available from: https://earthconstitution.world/text-of-the-earth-constitution/#preamble (accessed 12 October 2026).
[76]	Kant, Immanuel, Perpetual Peace and Other Essays. Trans. Ted Humphrey. (New York: Hackett Publishers), 1983.
[77]	Harris, Errol E., Earth Federation Now: Tomorrow is Too Late. Second Edition. (Appomattox, VA, Institute for Economic Democracy Press), 2014, and the concluding chapters of Harris, Errol E., Twenty-first Century Democratic Renaissance: From Plato to Neoliberalism to Planetary Democracy. (Appomattox, VA, Institute for Economic Democracy Press), 2008.
[78]	Smuts, Jan Christian, Holism and Evolution. (Gouldsboro, ME, The Gestalt Journal Press), 1986, p. 91.
[79]	Martin, Glen T., ed., Constitution for the Federation of Earth, with an Introduction by Glen T. Martin. (Appomattox, VA: Institute for Economic Democracy Press), 2016.
[80]	Griffin, David Ray, America on the Brink: How US Foreign Policy Led to the War in Ukraine. (Atlanta: Clarity Press), 2023, p. 133.
[81]	Abe, Masao, Zen and Western Thought. (Honolulu, U. of Hawaii Press), 1985, p. 250.
[82]	Smuts, Jan Christian, Holism and Evolution. (Gouldsboro, ME, The Gestalt Journal Press), 1986, p. 106.
[83]	This history is elaborated in Martin, Glen T., Constitution for the Federation of Earth: With Historical Introduction, Commentary, and Conclusion (Appomattox, VA, Institute for Democracy Press), 2010.
[84]	Bloch, Ernst, A Philosophy of the Future. Trans. John Cumming. (New York: Herder & Herder Publisher), 1970, p. 141.

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Martin, G. T. (2026). Emergent Evolutionary Holism and Utopian Horizon Value Theory: Our Next Step Forward. International Journal of Philosophy, 14(4), 133-147. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20261404.11

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Martin, G. T. Emergent Evolutionary Holism and Utopian Horizon Value Theory: Our Next Step Forward. Int. J. Philos. 2026, 14(4), 133-147. doi: 10.11648/j.ijp.20261404.11

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Martin GT. Emergent Evolutionary Holism and Utopian Horizon Value Theory: Our Next Step Forward. Int J Philos. 2026;14(4):133-147. doi: 10.11648/j.ijp.20261404.11

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@article{10.11648/j.ijp.20261404.11,
  author = {Glen Theron Martin},
  title = {Emergent Evolutionary Holism and Utopian Horizon Value Theory: Our Next Step Forward},
  journal = {International Journal of Philosophy},
  volume = {14},
  number = {4},
  pages = {133-147},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijp.20261404.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20261404.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijp.20261404.11},
  abstract = {My lifelong quest has been to address the problem of nihilism raised so forcefully by the work of Nietzsche in the 19th century. This nihilism remains, of course, very much manifest in the current world disorder. This quest was indicated in the title of my first book, From Nietzsche to Wittgenstein: The Problem of Truth and Nihilism in the Modern World (1989). In the course of this quest, I have encountered two fundamental dimensions of human existence that bring us beyond nihilism: first, the mystical realization of the unspeakable oneness of existence which is present at all times in the background of our experience, the eternal now that frames all human thought and action. Second is the temporal, emergent evolutionary upsurge to actualize the values arising from the Cosmic evolutionary process. With a host of others, some of whom are reviewed in this paper, I argue that the “One” (as it is called) is going someplace through the emergent evolutionary upsurge of the Cosmos. Human beings have evolved to facilitate this process. The two dimensions (time and timelessness), of course, are necessarily intertwined. Nevertheless, this essay focuses on this second dimension of human existence that likewise overcomes nihilism. It discusses the “early-modern background” from which we are emerging, the question of language and its symbols, contemporary “spirituality,” our increasing understanding of Cosmic evolution, the key role of Kant’s “Transcendental Unity of Apperception (TUA),” the concept of “Utopian Horizon” deriving from these reflections, and the conclusion concerning “our next step forward.” It brings together viewpoints of many thinkers to develop an overview of our human situation revealing the fundamental role of the future, human ethical values, and our utopian horizon. In closing, it considers our next step forward in the form of an Earth Federation.},
 year = {2026}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Emergent Evolutionary Holism and Utopian Horizon Value Theory: Our Next Step Forward
AU  - Glen Theron Martin
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PY  - 2026
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20261404.11
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AB  - My lifelong quest has been to address the problem of nihilism raised so forcefully by the work of Nietzsche in the 19th century. This nihilism remains, of course, very much manifest in the current world disorder. This quest was indicated in the title of my first book, From Nietzsche to Wittgenstein: The Problem of Truth and Nihilism in the Modern World (1989). In the course of this quest, I have encountered two fundamental dimensions of human existence that bring us beyond nihilism: first, the mystical realization of the unspeakable oneness of existence which is present at all times in the background of our experience, the eternal now that frames all human thought and action. Second is the temporal, emergent evolutionary upsurge to actualize the values arising from the Cosmic evolutionary process. With a host of others, some of whom are reviewed in this paper, I argue that the “One” (as it is called) is going someplace through the emergent evolutionary upsurge of the Cosmos. Human beings have evolved to facilitate this process. The two dimensions (time and timelessness), of course, are necessarily intertwined. Nevertheless, this essay focuses on this second dimension of human existence that likewise overcomes nihilism. It discusses the “early-modern background” from which we are emerging, the question of language and its symbols, contemporary “spirituality,” our increasing understanding of Cosmic evolution, the key role of Kant’s “Transcendental Unity of Apperception (TUA),” the concept of “Utopian Horizon” deriving from these reflections, and the conclusion concerning “our next step forward.” It brings together viewpoints of many thinkers to develop an overview of our human situation revealing the fundamental role of the future, human ethical values, and our utopian horizon. In closing, it considers our next step forward in the form of an Earth Federation.
VL  - 14
IS  - 4
ER  -

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Glen Theron Martin

Philosophy and Religious Studies, Radford University, Radford, United States

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Martin, G. T. (2026). Emergent Evolutionary Holism and Utopian Horizon Value Theory: Our Next Step Forward. International Journal of Philosophy, 14(4), 133-147. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20261404.11

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ACS Style

Martin, G. T. Emergent Evolutionary Holism and Utopian Horizon Value Theory: Our Next Step Forward. Int. J. Philos. 2026, 14(4), 133-147. doi: 10.11648/j.ijp.20261404.11

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Martin GT. Emergent Evolutionary Holism and Utopian Horizon Value Theory: Our Next Step Forward. Int J Philos. 2026;14(4):133-147. doi: 10.11648/j.ijp.20261404.11

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@article{10.11648/j.ijp.20261404.11,
  author = {Glen Theron Martin},
  title = {Emergent Evolutionary Holism and Utopian Horizon Value Theory: Our Next Step Forward},
  journal = {International Journal of Philosophy},
  volume = {14},
  number = {4},
  pages = {133-147},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijp.20261404.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20261404.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijp.20261404.11},
  abstract = {My lifelong quest has been to address the problem of nihilism raised so forcefully by the work of Nietzsche in the 19th century. This nihilism remains, of course, very much manifest in the current world disorder. This quest was indicated in the title of my first book, From Nietzsche to Wittgenstein: The Problem of Truth and Nihilism in the Modern World (1989). In the course of this quest, I have encountered two fundamental dimensions of human existence that bring us beyond nihilism: first, the mystical realization of the unspeakable oneness of existence which is present at all times in the background of our experience, the eternal now that frames all human thought and action. Second is the temporal, emergent evolutionary upsurge to actualize the values arising from the Cosmic evolutionary process. With a host of others, some of whom are reviewed in this paper, I argue that the “One” (as it is called) is going someplace through the emergent evolutionary upsurge of the Cosmos. Human beings have evolved to facilitate this process. The two dimensions (time and timelessness), of course, are necessarily intertwined. Nevertheless, this essay focuses on this second dimension of human existence that likewise overcomes nihilism. It discusses the “early-modern background” from which we are emerging, the question of language and its symbols, contemporary “spirituality,” our increasing understanding of Cosmic evolution, the key role of Kant’s “Transcendental Unity of Apperception (TUA),” the concept of “Utopian Horizon” deriving from these reflections, and the conclusion concerning “our next step forward.” It brings together viewpoints of many thinkers to develop an overview of our human situation revealing the fundamental role of the future, human ethical values, and our utopian horizon. In closing, it considers our next step forward in the form of an Earth Federation.},
 year = {2026}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Emergent Evolutionary Holism and Utopian Horizon Value Theory: Our Next Step Forward
AU  - Glen Theron Martin
Y1  - 2026/10/29
PY  - 2026
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20261404.11
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijp.20261404.11
T2  - International Journal of Philosophy
JF  - International Journal of Philosophy
JO  - International Journal of Philosophy
SP  - 133
EP  - 147
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-7455
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20261404.11
AB  - My lifelong quest has been to address the problem of nihilism raised so forcefully by the work of Nietzsche in the 19th century. This nihilism remains, of course, very much manifest in the current world disorder. This quest was indicated in the title of my first book, From Nietzsche to Wittgenstein: The Problem of Truth and Nihilism in the Modern World (1989). In the course of this quest, I have encountered two fundamental dimensions of human existence that bring us beyond nihilism: first, the mystical realization of the unspeakable oneness of existence which is present at all times in the background of our experience, the eternal now that frames all human thought and action. Second is the temporal, emergent evolutionary upsurge to actualize the values arising from the Cosmic evolutionary process. With a host of others, some of whom are reviewed in this paper, I argue that the “One” (as it is called) is going someplace through the emergent evolutionary upsurge of the Cosmos. Human beings have evolved to facilitate this process. The two dimensions (time and timelessness), of course, are necessarily intertwined. Nevertheless, this essay focuses on this second dimension of human existence that likewise overcomes nihilism. It discusses the “early-modern background” from which we are emerging, the question of language and its symbols, contemporary “spirituality,” our increasing understanding of Cosmic evolution, the key role of Kant’s “Transcendental Unity of Apperception (TUA),” the concept of “Utopian Horizon” deriving from these reflections, and the conclusion concerning “our next step forward.” It brings together viewpoints of many thinkers to develop an overview of our human situation revealing the fundamental role of the future, human ethical values, and our utopian horizon. In closing, it considers our next step forward in the form of an Earth Federation.
VL  - 14
IS  - 4
ER  -

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