CfR: Process Biology, March 21-23, 2018, The Royal Institution of Great Britain, London (Registration Deadline: February 21, 2018)

Submitted by Anne Sophie Meincke (University of Exeter).

 

First Call for Registration

Process Biology

Final Conference of the ERC-funded project
“A Process Ontology for Contemporary Biology”

21-23 March 2018, The Royal Institution of Great Britain, London, UK

Organised by John Dupré, Stephan Güttinger, Anne Sophie Meincke & Dan Nicholson (University of Exeter)

The ERC-funded project ‘A Process Ontology for Contemporary Biology’ (2013-2018) has sought to rethink central issues in the philosophy of biology by elaborating an ontology for biology that takes full account of the processual nature of living systems. The goal has been to develop a concept of process adequate for addressing the multiple levels of interacting processes at different time scales characteristic of living systems. All biological entities can be analysed as stabilised processes relative to an appropriate time scale, and this conception provides a better understanding of familiar biological pluralisms (about genes, organisms, species, etc.) in terms of different ways in which distinct scientific practices intersect with biological processes. A process perspective has been used to shed light on a number of traditional philosophical problems, including individuation, classification, persistence, explanation, essentialism, and reductionism. It has also addressed the consequences of a process perspective for particular areas of contemporary biological and biomedical research.

This final conference will present the main findings of the project and explore the broader consequences of a process ontology for biology, as well as suggest further avenues of future research in the philosophy of biology and metaphysics.

Speakers: Rani Lill Anjum (NMBU), Jane Calvert (Edinburgh), John Dupré (Exeter), Adam Ferner (Royal Institute of Philosophy London), Antony Galton (Exeter), Scott Gilbert (Swarthmore), James Griesemer (UC Davis), Stephan Güttinger (Exeter), Sui Huang (Seattle), Phyllis Illari (UCL), Johannes Jaeger (Klosterneuburg), Spyridon Koutroufinis (TU Berlin), Sabina Leonelli (Exeter), Elisabeth Lloyd (Indiana), Anne Sophie Meincke (Exeter), Dan Nicholson (Exeter), Peter Simons (Trinity College Dublin), Ana Soto (Tufts), Helen Steward (Leeds), Rowland Stout (University College Dublin), Sonia Sultan (Wesleyan), James Wakefield (Exeter), Denis Walsh (Toronto), Kenneth Waters (Calgary).

For more information about the conference, the conference venue and registration please visit the conference website.

The conference programme is also available here.

Please register by 21 February 2018 via the conference website or here.

For questions concerning registration please contact Miss Chee Wong at egenis@exeter.ac.uk.