Departmental Colloquium, 2024/2025
Colloquia take place from 4.00pm to 5:45pm in S0.18 unless otherwise indicated. For further information, please contact Andrew Cooper (Andrew.Cooper@warwick.ac.uk) or Gemma Basterfield (Gemma.Basterfield@warwick.ac.uk). Details of previous years’ colloquia can be found here.
Philosophy Department Colloquium: Andrew Cooper (Warwick)
Title: Kant, Design and Biological Theory
Abstract:
In philosophy of biology there has been ongoing debate between proponents of adaptationism (standard neo-Darwinism) and developmentalism (‘Evo-Devo’) for at least half a century. In the past few years, several philosophers have asked whether the two standpoints can be synthesised into a single theory. In this paper I examine the possibility of a new synthesis by noting a curious return on both sides of the debate to the account of design Kant proposed in Critique of the Power of Judgment. I suggest that each standpoint fulfils one of the two criteria Kant identifies for the investigation of organisms. I then argue that each standpoint departs from Kant’s account at some point or other. I conclude that the recent reception of Kant’s account of design suggests that a new synthesis would require a revised theoretical structure that acknowledges a plurality of investigative standpoints in biology.