This is a 2026 Off-Year ISHPSSB Workshop.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Enara García (Syddansk Universitet)

Alejandro Fábregas-Tejeda (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven)

José Antonio Pérez-Escobar (Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia)

SCHEDULE

Day 1 - 18 June 2026 - Sala B UNED Humanidades building

08:30-09:00
Registration & welcoming

09:00-09:30
CRISTIAN SABORIDO
Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED)

09:30-10:05
DAVID SÁNCHEZ
Universidad de Granada (UGR)
Teleology Without Representation: Meaning and Function in Ecological Psychology

10:05-10:40
ELIAS COHEN
École des hautes études en sciences sociales / Institut Jean-Nicod (EHESS / Jean-Nicod Paris)
Situating mental representation: Perry’s “Thought without representation” in an enactivist context

10:40-11:15
ANDREAS T. POMMER
Københavns Universitet (KU)
Population-Level Representations and Computations Afford Causal Explanations

11:15-11:30
Coffee Break

11:30-12:05
AINHOA RODRIGUEZ-MUGURUZA
Universidad del País Vasco / Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV/EHU)
Menstrual Health as Rhythmic Plasticity

12:05-12:40
REBECCA R. CUCINIELLO
Università di Genova (UniGe)
Integrating plasticity and teleology: lessons from Ernst Mayr’s somatic programs

12:40-14:10
KEYNOTE SPEAKER: ENARA GARCÍA
Syddansk Universitet (SDU)
The Path-Dependent Mind: Individuation, Vulnerability, and the Ontogenesis of Mental Disorder

14:10-16:00
Lunch

16:00-16:35
MAYO PINTO-CANDENAS
Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Ambivalencia Funcional de los Síntomas Psiquiátricos: el caso de la anorexia nerviosa

16:35-17:10
ASTRID RENG
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU Munich)
Mental health and options for mental action

17:10-17:45
JAMES TURNER
Umeå universitet (Umeå)
Low Mood, Proper Function, and Dysfunction: The Case Against Depression as a Natural Kind

17:45-18:20
BENEDETTA COGO
University of Wollongong (UOW)
Keeping it rational in the philosophy of psychiatry

Day 2 - 19 June 2026 - Sala A UNED Humanidades building

FRIDAY 19 JUNE ~ Sala A
08:30-09:00
Registration & welcoming

09:00-10:30
KEYNOTE SPEAKER: ALEJANDRO FÁBREGAS-TEJEDA
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven)
Ethospaces and the Comparative Study of Behavior

10:30-11:05
TOMMASO ZORZINI
Università degli Studi di Milano (UniMi)
Reciprocal causation in EES is still unidirectional and diachronic

11:05-11:40
CARLOS ESTEBAN-JIMÉNEZ
Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
The cognitive dimension of experiential niche construction: an epistemological problem?

11:40-11:55
Coffee Break

11:55-12:30
LUCIA C. NECO
Universidad de Murcia (UMU)
The Prospect of Plant Sociality

12:30-13:05
ADEX IZQUIERDO
Universitat de València (UV)
Offline information transmission: A teleofunctional hybrid account for mnemonic episodic reference

13:05-13:40
MEGAN H. TODD
Sveučilište u Rijeci (Rijeka)
Communicating Science Under Uncertainty: Hedging and Epistemic Function in Animal Cognition Research

13:40-14:15
MIGUEL GRAMAGE
Universitat de València (UV)
Specification in Use: A Modal Account of Ecological Information

14:15-16:00
Lunch

16:00-17:30
KEYNOTE SPEAKER: JOSÉ ANTONIO PÉREZ-ESCOBAR
Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED)
Mathematical explanations in biology: A Neo-Aristotelian proposal

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

The Research Workshop on Philosophy of Biology and Cognitive Sciences (PBCS) invites submissions to its 14th edition, hosted by the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED) in Madrid, Spain.

Since its first edition in 2011, the PBCS workshop encourages contributions from all areas in the philosophy of biology and in the philosophy of cognitive sciences. Submissions from both philosophers and researchers inthe biological and cognitive sciences are welcome.

SUBMISSIONS

Young researchers (Master’s and PhD students, as well as scholars who defended their PhD dissertations within the last three years) are encouraged to submit their work, present their ideas, and participate in vibrant interdisciplinary discussions. Women and other underrepresented groups are especially encouraged to apply.

Possible topics include (but are not limited to):
- Enactive and 4E approaches to cognition, perception, and mental disorders

- Embodied intersubjectivity and affective dynamics in psychotherapy and social cognition

- Phenomenology and qualitative methods in cognitive science and mental health research

- Philosophical foundations of psychiatry and models of mental disorders

- Organism-environment relations in biological explanation and cognitive science

- Theoretical and conceptual perspectives on comparative biology and evolutionary theory

- Historical and philosophical analyses of the organism in contemporary biosciences

- Measurement, modeling, and data practices in the life and cognitive sciences

- Mathematical formalisation and normativity in biological and
psychological explanation

- Big data, AI, and methodological innovation in biology and cognitive science

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Submit an abstract of 500-700 words to [email protected] including two separate PDF files:

1. Identified version: containing author name(s), affiliation(s), and email address.
2. Blind version: fully anonymised, removing any information that could eveal authorship.

Abstracts may be written in English or Spanish. They must include a title, clearly state the relevance of the topic to the workshop, and provide a concise outline of the main arguments.

All submissions will undergo double-blind peer review by the scientific committee.

Selected presentations will be allocated 20 minutes for the talk, followed by 10 minutes of discussion.

Deadline for submission: 1̶5̶t̶h̶ ̶J̶a̶n̶u̶a̶r̶y̶ 1st February, 2026 (deadline extended).

Notification of acceptance: 1̶s̶t̶ ̶M̶a̶r̶c̶h̶ 16 March, 2026 (deadline extended).

https://sites.google.com/view/xivpbcs/home