Rethinking Biological Functions: A Goal-Contribution Approach and Its Systemic Implications

23 October 2024

Rethinking Biological Functions: A Goal-Contribution Approach and Its Systemic Implications

Cross-posted at The Brains Blog Introduction: The Role of Functions in Biology and Philosophy Biological functions play a critical role in our understanding of living organisms and their traits. Whether we’re talking about the heart, lungs, or brain, their “function” helps an organism survive, grow, reproduce, and sometimes assist others. But can we explain more […]

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New book (2024): M. Tahar, Du finalisme en biologie: Bergson et la theorie de l’evolution

9 October 2024

New book (2024): M. Tahar, Du finalisme en biologie: Bergson et la theorie de l’evolution

New Monograph on Bergson’s Contemporary Relevance to Our Understanding of Evolution – Published by PUF. From the publisher’s website: “The eye is made to see,” “only the best adapted survive,” “evolution is progress.” These familiar statements liken nature’s work to that of an engineer, shaping living matter with specific goals in mind: designing a visual […]

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New Paper (2024): Organizational teleology 2.0: Grounding biological purposiveness in regulatory control

28 May 2024

New Paper (2024): Organizational teleology 2.0: Grounding biological purposiveness in regulatory control

Published open-access in Ratio. Abstract: This paper critically revises the organisational account of teleology, which argues that living systems are first and foremost oriented towards a goal: maintaining their own conditions of existence. It points out some limitations of this account, mainly in the capability to account for the richness and complexity of biological systems […]

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New Paper (2023): Piaget’s Paradox: Adaptation, Evolution, and Agency

8 May 2024

New Paper (2023): Piaget’s Paradox: Adaptation, Evolution, and Agency

In this paper, published open access in Human Development, Denis Walsh addresses Piaget’s theory of equilibration and its significance in overcoming the Modern Synthesis, as an object theory, for an agent theory of evolution. Abstract: Piaget’s Behaviour and Evolution (1976) sought to reconcile the view that organismal adaptiveness – in the form of equilibration – could contribute […]

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New Biological Theory

17 April 2024

New Biological Theory

New issue of biological theory with a thematic section on biological agency, including paper by Louis Virenque & Matteo Mossio on agency in biological autonomy, Andrew Pickering on agency in Science Studies, Samir Okasha on agency and evolution, and a commentary essay by Lenny Moss. All essays available in open-access here.

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Workshop: Self-organization, Autonomy and the Bounds of the Self

13 March 2024

Workshop: Self-organization, Autonomy and the Bounds of the Self

Workshop on biological autonomy and the question of organismal agency at the Université Paris I. More information and the link to follow remotely available on the conference website. Program Lundi 18 mars 2024 9h00-9h15 : Ouverture du workshop/opening session : Florian Moullard (Bordeaux-Montaigne, SPH; Paris 1, IHPST) et Louis Virenque (CNRS, IHPST, Paris I),The Problem for Defining Agency. 9h15-10h45 : Anna Ciaunica (Université […]

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Life and Mind: The common tetradic structure of organism and consciousness – a phenomenological approach

31 January 2024

Life and Mind: The common tetradic structure of organism and consciousness – a phenomenological approach

The question of the holistic structure of an organism is a recurring theme in the philosophy of biology and has been increasingly discussed again in recent years.[2] Organisms have recently been described as complex systems[3] that autonomously create, maintain and reproduce themselves[4] while constantly interacting with their environment. Key focal points include their autopoiesis[5], autonomy[6], […]

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New Book (2023): Organization in Biology

22 November 2023

New Book (2023): Organization in Biology

Published open access by Springer From the editor’s introduction: For most of the twentieth century, biology forgot or largely neglected organization. By this term, I mean a certain mode of interaction among the parts of a system, which is by hypothesis distinctively realized by biological systems. While a systemic trend is progressively pervading various biological […]

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Rise of the Agents

3 October 2023

Rise of the Agents

If you look up the characteristics of life in any standard Biology textbook, you’ll likely find some list like this: reproduction, heredity, cellular organization, growth and development, response to stimuli, adaptation through evolution, homeostasis, and metabolism. What you won’t find is agency. The fact that living organisms can do things is arguably the most important […]

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