Nov
7
Fri
Brad Weslake: Selection, Drift, and Non-Causal Explanation @ Room 566B
Nov 7 @ 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm

Brad Weslake (NYU-Shanghai) will be giving a talk entitled “Selection, Drift, and Non-Causal Explanation” on Friday, November 7th. The talk will be held from 4:00-6:00pm in Waverly 566B, 24 Waverly Place** (NYU). The abstract for his talk is below. Hope to see you all there!

“Selection, Drift, and Non-Causal Explanation”
Brad Weslake, NYU-Shanghai 

Marc Lange has recently argued that selection explanations are causal and drift explanations are non-causal. I argue that the reasons Lange gives for the claim that drift explanations are non-causal also entail that a certain class of selection explanations are non-causal. I then evaluate Lange’s account of the distinction between causal and non-causal explanations, and argue that we should recognise a class of explanations that are partly causal and partly non-causal, in a sense I will describe.

There will be a dinner after the talk. If you are interested, please email nyphilsci@gmail.com as soon as possible so that I can make the reservation for the appropriate number of people (please note that only the speaker’s dinner will be covered). If you have any other questions, please email nyphilsci@gmail.com.

Apr
15
Wed
Noah Greenstein: Relativity, Causality and Natural Selection @ Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, 3rd flr. Meeting Room
Apr 15 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm

Relativity, Causality and Natural Selection

In this talk I’ll present an alternative causal structure for biological evolution. First the causalist and statisticalist perspectives on evolutionary fitness are analyzed, finding them to implicitly depend on each other, and hence cannot be individually fundamental. I argue that this can be seen as an instance of a relativistic perspective over evolutionary phenomena and, therefore, insoluble. New accounts of fitness, the struggle for life, and Natural Selection are developed under this interpretation. This biological relativism is unique in that it draws from General Relativity in physics, unlike previous theories that drew upon statistical mechanics or Newtonian dynamics. Some consequences of this relativism, like a mathematical law of evolutionary change, as well as new theoretical biological concepts to underpin it, are discussed. The law and theory are then applied to give examples of how cannon and problems within evolutionary theory and biology can be understood using these new methods.

People from outside NYU: if this is your *first* time coming to the seminar, let them know so we can make sure you will have access to the building.

*~*~* Beer is $2. Bring CHANGE *~*~*

Sep
23
Wed
Spirituality After Darwin by Bron Taylor @ Orozco Room, A712, Alvin Johnson/J.M. Kaplan Hall
Sep 23 @ 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm

Spirituality After Darwin: ‘Dark Green’ Nature Religion and the Future of Religion and Nature

New Religions come and go but some persist and become major global forces. In this presentation, Professor Taylor presents evidence that, especially since Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859, a new, global, earth religion has been rapidly spreading around the world. Whether it involves conventional religious beliefs in non-material divine beings, or is entirely naturalistic and involves no such beliefs, it considers nature to be sacred, imbued with intrinsic value, and worthy of reverent care. Those having affinity with such spirituality generally have strong feelings of belonging to nature, express kinship with non-human organisms, and understand the world to be deeply interconnected.

In a recent book, Taylor labeled such phenomena ‘dark green religion’, noting that its central ethical priority is to defend the earth’s biocultural diversity. Taylor provides a wide variety of examples of new forms of religious (and religion-resembling) cultural innovation among those promoting such nature spirituality, from individuals (including artists, scientists, filmmakers, photographers, surfers, and environmental activists), to institutions (including museums, schools, and the United Nations). By tracking these, Taylor provides an opportunity to consider what such spirituality may portend for the religious and planetary future.

Bron Taylor is Professor of Religion, Nature, and Environmental Ethics at the University of Florida. His research involves both ethnographic and historical methods, and much of it focuses on grassroots environmental movements, their emotional, spiritual, and moral spiritual dimensions, and their environmental, cultural, and political impacts.

This event is sponsored by the India China Institute at The New School.

Refreshments will be provided. Seating is limited – please RSVP here

Feb
1
Mon
Louise Hanson (Cambridge) “The Real Problem with Evolutionary Debunking Arguments” @ NYU Philosophy Dept. 202
Feb 1 @ 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm

Louise Hanson (Cambridge) “The Real Problem with Evolutionary Debunking Arguments”
Monday February 1st, 1pm Location: 5 Washington Place, Room 202

 

http://nyip.as.nyu.edu/page/public-events

http://philosophy.fas.nyu.edu/object/2016.02.01.Hanson

Apr
12
Tue
Laura Franklin-Hall (NYU) @ NYU Silver 621
Apr 12 @ 4:30 pm – 6:30 pm

Tentative Schedule for MAPS, 2016 Spring (more details soon):

Aprili 12. 4:30-6:30pm @ NYU.  Laura Franklin-Hall (NYU). Topic: TBA.

Apr 26. 4:30-6:30pm @ NYU Silver 621.  Lev Vaidman (Tel Aviv). Topic: Many-Worlds QM.

May 10. 3:00-6:30pm @ NYU.  Mini Workshop on Philosophy of Physics: (1) Elizabeth Miller (Yale) & Ned Hall (Harvard), and (2) Angelo Bassi (Trieste).  Topics: TBA.

Dec
2
Fri
Peter Godfrey-Smith (CUNY) The Subject as Cause and Effect of Evolution @ CUNY Grad Center, rm 5307
Dec 2 @ 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm

Abstract: Organisms physically transform their environments in ways that affect their downstream evolution. The importance of this fact has been a topic in recent debates in and around evolutionary biology. I’ll discuss this theme in a general way and then extend it. A subset of “niche construction” phenomena work by way of the perceptual, cognitive, and agential properties of organisms. These cases have distinctive features seen on several scales. I’ll look at these in relation to both the large-scale history of life and attempts to give a materialist account of the place of mind in nature.

There will be a dinner after the talk. If you are interested, please send an email with “Dinner” in the heading to nyphilsci@gmail.com (please note that all faculty and grad students are welcome, but only the speaker’s dinner will be covered). If you have any other questions, please email eddy.chen@rutgers.edu

Presented by Metro Area Philosophy of Science Presents

Peter Godfrey-Smith (CUNY Graduate Center)

 

Title: The Subject as Cause and Effect of Evolution

Jan
31
Tue
Do we need a new evolutionary synthesis? Massimo Pigliucci (CUNY) @ CUNY Grad Center, rm 5307
Jan 31 @ 4:30 pm – 6:30 pm

Abstract: The theory of evolution has evolved, so to speak, a number of times since Darwin and Wallace proposed the original version back in 1858. In this talk, I will explore some of those changes and focus on current proposals to develop a new version of the theory, known as the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis. I will also try to address the question of whether these new developments amount to an example of what philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn called a “paradigm shift” within the biological sciences.

Reception to follow the talk, please join us! There will also be dinner after the reception. If you are interested, please send an email with “Dinner” in the heading to nyphilsci@gmail.com (please note that all are welcome, but only the speaker’s dinner will be covered). If you have any other questions, please email eddy.chen@rutgers.edu

===============================================================

More Upcoming MAPS Talks: 

(1) 4:30-6:30 PM Tuesday February 28 at NYU.

Matt Stanley. (Author of Huxley’s Church and Maxwell’s Demon: from Theistic Science to Naturalistic Science, University of Chicago Press); 

“The Uniformity of Natural Laws: A Historical Perspective from Victorian Britain”

(2) Jesse Prinz (CUNY). Title TBA. Time TBA. 

(3) Alyssa Ney (UC Davis). Title TBA. 4:30-6:30 PM Tuesday May 2 at Columbia. 

Nov
8
Thu
The Animal Sexes as Queer Kinds, Laura Franklin-Hall (NYU) @ Columbia University Philosophy Dept. 716
Nov 8 @ 4:10 pm – 6:00 pm

Columbia Fall 2018 Colloquium Series

Thursday, November 8th, 2018
Laura Franklin-Hall (New York University)
Title: “The Animal Sexes as Queer Kinds”
4:10 PM – 6:00 PM, 716 Philosophy Hall
Reception to follow

Thursday, November 15th, 2018
Simona Aimar (UCL)
Title: TBA
4:10 PM – 6:00 PM, 716 Philosophy Hall
Reception to follow

Mar
7
Thu
I, holobiont. Are you and your microbes a community or a single entity? – Derek Skillings @ Dweck Center, Brooklyn Public Library
Mar 7 @ 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm

When we’re asked to give examples of philosophical questions, we’re likely to think of questions that are very, very old. Is the physical world all there is? How should I live? How do we know what we know? But some philosophical problems are quite new, made possible or urgent by new developments in science and culture. These are often the most exciting problems to think through.

On March 7th at 7:30 PM, Derek Skillings joins Brooklyn Public Philosophers to share his work on the philosophical consequences of the fact that we are holobionts – biological units composed of hosts and their associated swarms of microorganisms. If you’re interested in health, the problem of personal identity, the philosophy of biology in general, or the philosophical consequences of the fact that we’re made up of a bunch of little things which are themselves alive in particular, you’ll want to check this one out. Here’s the abstract:

“I, holobiont. Are you and your microbes a community or a single entity?”

You are a holobiont – a biological unit made up of a host and its associated microbiome (bacteria, protists, viruses and other microscopic entities). What consequences does this have for how we understand ourselves and other similar organisms? What are our spatial and temporal boundaries, and what does it mean to be a healthy holobiont? In this talk I will look at some alternatives for making sense of both holobiont individuality and “healthy holobiont/microbiome” talk. I will argue that existing accounts of human health are not appropriate for microbiomes, and that notions of ecosystem health face similar shortcomings. I will end by looking at some possibilities for understanding overall host health given the importance and ubiquity of microbiomes.

As usual, we meet at the Dweck Center at the Grand Army Plaza branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. Here’s the Facebook event! Tell everyone, please!