“The arithmetic mean of what? A Cautionary Tale about the Use of the Geometric Mean as a Measure of Fitness” is an Open Access article in Biology & Philosophy by “Transitions in individuality: from ecology to teleonomy” project PI Pierrick Bourrat and Peter Takacs. Their project is part of the “Evolutionary Origins and Transitions of Agency” cluster of projects.
Emilie Snell-Rood, PI of the “A conceptual framework of ‘function’ in biology and bio-inspired design” project, contributed to the Open Access article “Convergent evolution of a blood-red nectar pigment in vertebrate-pollinated flowers” in Plant Biology in January 2022. The findings “join a growing list of examples of distinct biochemical and molecular mechanisms underlying evolutionary convergence and provide a fascinating system for testing how interactions across species drive the evolution of novel pigments in an understudied context.”
Teleology used to be one of the central topics in metaphysics from antiquity until well into the 19th century, but it is rarely discussed today. This lacuna is unfortunate, because the nature of goal-directedness has important implications in debates about biological functions, human and AI agency, naturalism, the philosophy of social science, the philosophy of mind, and experimental philosophy. We are looking for innovative papers that shed light on what teleology is, either from a general metaphysical standpoint or in connection with some specific debate.
Guest Editors: Daniel Kodaj (Eötvös Loránd University), László Bernáth (Eötvös Loránd Research Network & Eötvös Loránd University), Martin Pickup (University of Birmingham)
Appropriate topics include, but are not limited to:
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New approaches to teleology in the philosophy of biology
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Concepts of teleology that go beyond the philosophy of biology and relate to issues in, or re-structure debates within, the philosophy of action, social ontology, or the philosophy of mind
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Goal-directedness and AI
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The role of teleology in the explanatory practices of the natural vs the social sciences
The deadline for submissions is 15 May 2022.
For further information, please contact the lead guest editor at: dkodaj@gmail.com.
Submissions via: https://www.editorialmanager.com/synt/default.aspx
The April 2022 issue of BioScience features the viewpoint article “Organizing Interdisciplinary Research on Purpose” by project PI Alan Love and postdoc Max Dresow!
Professor Anya Plutynski’s recent review of the new book Rethinking Cancer: A New Paradigm for the Postgenomic Era is available online in Biological Theory. She finds that “there is much to chew over, of wider relevance to philosophers of science and medicine, whether their interests are in the nature of the world, or how we come to know it.” Professor Plutynski is the coordinator of the Agency and Directionality in Development cluster of Agency, Directionality and Function projects.
