'Biology as Process: Philosophical Background and Implications'

Main target group: students and young scholars of philosophy and natural sciences

Credit points and assessment (optional): 3 ECTS, non-differentiated

Maximum number of participants: 25

To obtain credit points, the participant must write an essay of 4-6 pages on some topic of the workshop, to be submitted two weeks after the workshop ends.

More detailed information: The workshop concentrates on different fields of Philosophy of Biology from the perspective of seeing biological entities as dynamic processes, not static objects. The topics to be covered include: general metaphysics of evolution, processual view of organisms and kinds, the questions of taxonomic monism and pluralism, issues related to social constructivism, the relationship between values and science-making, the questions of reductionism, polygenic organisms, postgenomic Darwinism, contemporary genomics and definition of genes from processual perspective, causality and human nature in the social sciences, criticism of evolutionary psychology, etc. The workshop is of potential interest for the scholars of many disciplines as it opens up novel perspectives and implications that process-based biology has for several fields from arts and social sciences to natural sciences.

The course consists of lectures and seminars, and includes practical work and visit to Estonian Genome Centre. Before seminars, please read the seminar materials provided in the time table.

There is no participation fee.

Professor John Dupré is Professor of Philosophy of Science at the University of Exeter and Director of Egenis, the Centre for the Study of Life Sciences. He is also a current President of the Philosophy of Science Association. He has authored several books and many articles. In 2018 he co-edited with Daniel J. Nicholson a book called ‘Everything Flows: Towards a Processual Philosophy of Biology’. 

For additional information, please e-mail contact Edit Talpsepp, [email protected]