Evolution ‘On Purpose’: Teleonomy in Living Systems
Living systems exhibit an internal teleology, the full implications of which have not been explored. This meeting will address various aspects of this phenomenon, including its scope and meaning, and its many forms and facets.
Date: 28th - 29th June 2021
Organiser: Linnean Events
events@linnean.org
Registration: Register on eventbrite.co.uk
Although it is now widely accepted that living systems exhibit an internal teleology, or teleonomy, the full implications of this distinctive biological property have yet to be explored. This online conference will seek to address various aspects of this important phenomenon, including the origins and history of the teleonomy concept, its scope and meaning, and its many forms and facets. Possible topics may include: an historical review of teleological thinking; teleology (and entelechy) versus teleonomy in evolutionary theory; the nature of teleonomy (who/what is in control, and how?); agency and teleonomy; semiotics and teleonomy; modelling teleonomic processes; teleonomy in the genome, in epigenesis, in physiology, and in behaviour; teleonomy and natural selection; teleonomy in human evolution; and, especially significant, how teleonomy has influenced the evolutionary process.
The Programme Committee includes Peter Corning, Eva Jablonka, Stuart Kauffman, Denis Noble, Samir Okasha, James Shapiro, Dick Vane-Wright, and Denis Walsh.
The organisers are Peter Corning (pacorning@complexsystems.org), Dick Vane-Wright (dickvanewright@gmail.com), and Padmaparna Ghosh (Linnean Society).
The full programme of 20 presentations, with abstracts and brief biographies, is now available here.
A Zoom link will be emailed to registered attendees 48 hours before the start of the event. Please note:
No questions or comments will be possible during or immediately after talks.
Registered attendees may pose questions (until 25 June, 2021) to each of the speakers regarding their talks via the e-mails that are provided with each abstract. The speakers may choose to respond during their talks, by personal e-mail messages, or not at all.
Some talks will be pre-recorded for the conference, for the convenience of speakers who are in remote time zones.
All talks will start at the time advertised, even if the previous talk ends early.
Attendees will have a choice about watching the talks. They are free to attend and leave the conference and return at their convenience, since all talks will be recorded as given and will be accessible online.
Registered attendees will have an opportunity to offer a commentary of up to three minutes on the second day, 29 June, during the first ‘evening’ hour (5:30–6:30 PM GMT, 6:30–7:30 BST). Application messages must be received by 25 June, and must be accompanied by a brief summary of your remarks, addressed to organiser Peter Corning at: pacorning@complexsystems.org. Dr. Corning will select the relevant comments and assign an order to the speakers. You will be notified if/when you will be recognized to speak.
In the last hour of the second day, comments/rejoinders will be allowed on a first come-first served basis. A summary of these comments may be used for the journal publication.
There is a commitment to publish one, or perhaps two sets of papers based on the conference (one to go to the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, potentially for a special issue).
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Interesting excerpt/Excerto interessante:
Denis Walsh, University of Toronto
Title: “Teleophobia”
ABSTRACT:
Teleology—the explanation of phenomena by appeal to the goals that they subserve— is widely thought to have been expunged from biology. The reasons generally offered for the putative banishment of teleology are numerous and varied—historical, conceptual, theoretical, metaphysical—and they are all wrong. There is no defensible reason for the teleophobia that holds contemporary biology in its grip. Furthermore, teleophobia has had a demonstratively deleterious effect on the development of evolutionary theory. It has aided and abetted the marginalisation of organisms from evolutionary thinking. Organisms, I argue, are natural purposes. The pursuit of organismal purposes makes a difference to the dynamics of evolution that can only be fully explained teleologically. Teleology must thus form an indispensable part of the evolutionary biologist’s methodological toolkit.
Free PDF Gratis: The Linnean Society
