A Processual Revolution in Biology

John Dupre (University of Exeter), Katherine Valde (Boston University), Melinda Bonnie Fagan (University of Utah), W. Doolittle (Dalhousie University)

Biology has long been dominated by the mechanistic paradigm, which conceives of the biological world in terms of the operation of various fixed parts and mechanisms.  A growing number of biologists and philosophers of biology from microbiology to oncology have argued that this mechanistic metaphor has outlived its usefulness, and that a new process-based paradigm will be more empirically fruitful for guiding research biology.  On the processual view, the biological domain is a hierarchy of processes constantly in flux, which then become stabilized and actively maintained at different timescales.  The key question is not how change is possible, but rather how do these ever-changing processes become stabilized in different contexts?  Questions to be explored in this colloquium include the following: What is the empirical evidence for viewing the biological world as being fundamentally made up of "processes" rather than "things"?  What are the methodological consequences of adopting a process-based view in biology?  How should we understand the implications of such a processual revolution for biology?  This colloquium will bring together biologists and philosophers of biology to explore these fundamental questions.