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Reposted by The Ramsey Lab

Paul Rainey @paulbrainey.bsky.social · 1h

Could major evolutionary transitions arise "from within" -- through internal innovation rather than merger? The case for autogenic transitions in individuality is developed here: philsci-archive.pitt.edu/26847/

Autogenic transitions in individuality - PhilSci-Archive

philsci-archive.pitt.edu

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Reposted by The Ramsey Lab

Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science @mcps-philsci.bsky.social · 23h

A month to go to submit abstracts for the 2nd HPS of Biodiversity meeting in Copenhagen, 30.04–2.05.26. Deadline: Fri 7 Nov 2025. Contributions welcome “that reflect on the conceptualization/quantification/classification/measurement/valuation/crisis/conservation of biodiversity.”

Second HPS of Biodiversity Meeting

We are inviting abstracts for the Second HPS of Biodiversity Meeting.

buff.ly

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Reposted by The Ramsey Lab

Alejandro Fábregas-Tejeda @alejandrofabregastejeda.com · 1d

Still puzzled by the debate on organismal agency? Our edited collection brings historians, philosophers, and scientists into dialogue—offering a wide array of perspectives. An affordable paperback edition will be out at the end of the month! www.routledge.com/The-Riddle-o... #HPS #evobio #philsky

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The Ramsey Lab @theramseylab.bsky.social · 5d

New Cambridge Element in the Philosophy of Biology series—fully #openaccess! @thomasreydon.bsky.social explores how evolutionary theory crosses over from biology into other fields, showing how these crossovers embody a broader style of reasoning: 'evolutionary thinking' bit.ly/48z3h36 #HPbio #evosky

Book cover of “The Scope of Evolutionary Thinking” by Thomas A. C. Reydon, in the Cambridge Elements: The Philosophy of Biology series. Against a black background, the title is surrounded by Ernst Haeckel’s illustrations of marine organisms—radial, symmetrical forms in vivid blues, oranges, reds, and greens.

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Harvard Med Cell Biology @harvardcellbio.bsky.social · 5d

Historically, viruses were thought to primarily use host cell's translational machinery. New work from @harvardcellbio.bsky.social faculty Amy Lee reveals that a giant DNA virus encodes its own IF4F initiation complex, suggesting an unexpected evolutionary innovation. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Giant DNA viruses encode a hallmark translation initiation complex of eukaryotic life

In contrast to living organisms, viruses were long thought to lack protein synthesis machinery and instead depend on host factors to translate viral transcripts. Here, we discover that giant DNA virus...

www.biorxiv.org

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The Ramsey Lab @theramseylab.bsky.social · 5d

New Cambridge Element in the Philosophy of Biology series—fully #openaccess! @thomasreydon.bsky.social explores how evolutionary theory crosses over from biology into other fields, showing how these crossovers embody a broader style of reasoning: 'evolutionary thinking' bit.ly/48z3h36 #HPbio #evosky

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Reposted by The Ramsey Lab

Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science (CLPS) @clpskuleuven.bsky.social · 5d

If you are in Leuven tomorrow, join us for the first CLPS seminar of the academic year! Our speaker will be @augustenahas.bsky.social (IHPST, University of Paris 1–Sorbonne), who will present on negative feedback, equilibrium explanations, and their relationship to causation & #teleology #HPS #HPbio

Screenshot of the KU Leuven Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science (CLPS) website showing details of a seminar titled CLPS Seminar: Auguste Nahas, Equilibrium Explanations and Teleology. The event is scheduled for October 3, 2025, from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM (Europe/Brussels time) in room HIW1-01.20. Speaker: Auguste Nahas (IHPST, University of Paris 1-Sorbonne).

Abstract

Teleological explanations have two distinctive features that have been deemed problematic. First, they reverse the usual explanatory order of causal explanations by explaining a phenomenon in virtue of a consequence it brings about. Second, they involve normative considerations in so far as the goal sets standards of hypothetical requirement: there are good and appropriate ways of achieving a goal. Two possible strategies present themselves for making sense of these features. The eliminative strategy aims to show how these features may be translated without loss to an ordinary causal language that cites neither consequences nor normative facts. A naturalist strategy aims to show that these two distinctively teleological features are no impediment to its legitimacy as a form of explanation. Unfortunately, scholars intent on making sense of teleology are not always explicit about which strategy they are pursuing. A notable ambiguity in this area concerns negative feedback and equilibrium explanations, which have long been deemed candidates for teleology. However, it is not clear if these explanations fall into the eliminative or the naturalist strategy. In this paper, I review two prominent accounts of goal-directed behavior in terms of negative feedback and equilibrium seeking, to evaluate whether they lead to an eliminativist or reductive account of teleological explanation. I argue these modes of explanations can be rendered in two ways, one of which is fully eliminative, while the other preserves the consequence-explanatory character of teleology at the expense of its normative character.

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Reposted by The Ramsey Lab

Nature Ecology & Evolution @natecoevo.nature.com · 6d

Combining fossil-based and molecular calibrations with data on horizontal gene transfer events, the authors develop a time-calibrated phylogeny of Fungi. This timescale suggests an older age of crown Fungi than previously thought (1,401–896 million years ago) 🧪🍄 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A timetree of Fungi dated with fossils and horizontal gene transfers - Nature Ecology & Evolution

Combining fossil-based and molecular calibrations with data on horizontal gene transfer events, the authors develop a time-calibrated phylogeny of Fungi. This timescale, which integrates analytic uncertainties, suggests an older age of crown Fungi (1,401–896 million years ago), as well as a minimum age for ancient interactions involving fungi and the algal ancestors of embryophytes in terrestrial ecosystems (1,253–797 Ma).

www.nature.com

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Reposted by The Ramsey Lab

Ricard Solé @ricardsole.bsky.social · 6d

Looking forward to speak at this @embo.org Workshop event meetings.embo.org/event/25-mul... to explore the origins of multicellular complexity along with great colleagues @multicellgenome.bsky.social @wcratcliff.bsky.social @viktri08.bsky.social I will be discussing synthetic multicellularity.

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Reposted by The Ramsey Lab

Andra Meneganzin @andrameneganzin.bsky.social · 19d

The CLPS at KU Leuven has landed on Bluesky🦋 ✨️

Follow the page to stay updated on the latest research!

#philsky #philbio #academicsky

Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science (CLPS) @clpskuleuven.bsky.social · 19d

Hello, #AcademicSky! We are the Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science (CLPS) at KU Leuven. Our senior and junior researchers focus on #logic, #epistemology & #philsci. We’re here to share our work and connect with logicians and philosophers of science worldwide—help us spread the word! #philsky

Cobblestone pathway leading to the red-brick Institute of Philosophy building at KU Leuven in Belgium (home of the Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science), framed by ivy-covered walls, arched windows, and lush greenery with purple wisteria flowers in the foreground.

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The Ramsey Lab @theramseylab.bsky.social · 11d

Alejandro Fábregas-Tejeda (KU Leuven) presenting joint work with Gianmaria Dani and Grant Ramsey and articulating the concept of 'ethospace' to expand on the theoretical toolkit for advancing the comparative study of behavior across the three of life.

#philbio #hpbio #philsky #evosky #behavior🧪

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The Ramsey Lab @theramseylab.bsky.social · 11d

Mark Oliver Casper (University of Kassel/ University of Göttingen) discussing points of intersection between enactivism and behavioral biology & strategies for modelling behavioral complexity in response to the Motley Crue Argument.

#evosky #philbio #philsky #4Ecognition

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The Ramsey Lab @theramseylab.bsky.social · 11d

Auguste Nahas (@augustenahas.bsky.social) from Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University makes a case for choice as a topic of philosophical concern and distinguishes among five conceptual roles at play, with implications for the study of choice across the tree of life.

#hpbio #evosky #philsky #philbio

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The Ramsey Lab @theramseylab.bsky.social · 11d

Anton Killin (University of Bielefeld) on aesthetic behaviour & cognition.
While the aesthetic is often applied to humans & often to a Western, post-Kantian context, evalutative coevolutionary approaches suggest more promising avenues for research across the tree of life.

#philbio #evosky #philsky

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The Ramsey Lab @theramseylab.bsky.social · 11d

Kristin Aleklett (@kaleklett.bsky.social) from Lund University deep diving into the challenges and opportunities for studying the behvioral ecology of fungi. Tinbergen's 4 Qs are applicable, but some are trickier than others (e.g., development)

#evosky #fungi #philsky #behaviouralecology #philbio 🧪

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The Ramsey Lab @theramseylab.bsky.social · 11d

Kirsty Wan (@micromotility.bsky.social) starts the second day of the workshop with a tour de force overview of the behavioral complexity of single-celled organisms and ways to study and model it. #evosky #cellbio #HPbio

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The Ramsey Lab @theramseylab.bsky.social · 11d

Bengt Autzen (University College Cork) on plants, sensitivity and optimal choice, arguing that is possible to recognize a form of risk-sensitivity in pea plants but its relation to optimal foraging theory needs to be further examined. 🌱

#evosky #philsky #philbio #hpbio #plantbehavior 🧪

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The Ramsey Lab @theramseylab.bsky.social · 11d

Gianmaria Dani (KU Leuven) argues that perception, integration & conditioned response should be seen as 3 different steps in the process of classical conditioning & discusses the implications for plant associative learning. Beware of pseudoconditioning!🌱

#evosky #philbio #hpbio #philsky #hpbio 🧪

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The Ramsey Lab @theramseylab.bsky.social · 12d

Silvia Guerra (University of Padova) on goal-directed behavior in pea plants. Plants are able to perceive elements in the environment, the features of potential supports and to modulate their behavior according to context.

#evosky #philsky #philbio #hpbio #plantbehavior 🌱🧪

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The Ramsey Lab @theramseylab.bsky.social · 12d

Linda Grohmann (University of Wuppertal) argues that comparative research in behavior and cognition represents a double bind—a dilemma arising from the conflicting demands of providing definitions while presenting experimental results.

#evosky #hpbio #philbio #philsky 🧪

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The Ramsey Lab @theramseylab.bsky.social · 12d

Nedah N. Nemati (Columbia University) on rethinking behavioral similarity in comparative neurobiology. "Biology will not straightforwardly provide answers to structure without invoking notions of function".

#philsky #hpbio #evosky #behavior #neuroscience 🧪

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The Ramsey Lab @theramseylab.bsky.social · 12d

Susana Colinas Fischer (University College London) on what #Celegans can teach us about adapting existing behavioral frameworks to the study of new organisms. Interesting insights on how reward and punishment are integrated in the context of learning.

#evosky #philbio #hpbio #behavior🧪

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The Ramsey Lab @theramseylab.bsky.social · 12d

Tobias Starzak (Ruhr University Bochum) analyzing the loci of disagreement in animal minds research across principles of interpretation, new experimental approaches and concept selection.

#hpbio #philsky #evosky #philbio #animalbehavior🧪

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The Ramsey Lab @theramseylab.bsky.social · 12d

@alejandrofabregastejeda.com introduces the workshop’s rich, interdisciplinary program and the phylogenetic scope emerging from comparative studies of behavior. Two exciting days are ahead!

#hpbio #evosky #philbio #philsky 🧪

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The Ramsey Lab @theramseylab.bsky.social · 12d

The 'Behavior Across the Tree of Life' Workshop has finally kicked off! Here Gianmaria Dani maps the problem space for the event. How should we address behavior beyond animals and avoid the risks of anthropomorphic projection?

#hpbio #philsky #evosky #philbio 🧪

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