EN
Evolutionism unintentionally laid foundations of the industrial ethos, sanctioned the idea of competition and a new type of social hierarchy, gave pragmatism an alibi, and at the same time shook the foundations of individualism. At present it has become a transparent paradigm – we pay no attention to it, or even deny it, while accepting many of its distinctive determinants. Today, evolution is, as it may seem, not only a proven process of gradual transformations in the natural and social life, but also a fundamental epistemological metaphor, whose sense cannot be attained fully, but whose heuristic power still influences us. The ambiguity of this influence is reflected in the ambivalent attitude to Charles Darwin, who became, on the one hand, an icon of evolutionism, and on the other hand a victim of its methodological attractiveness.