Werner Callebaut
Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research, Austria

The dialectics of disunity in the evolutionary synthesis and its extensions

Wednesday 01st of April 2009 at 03:30pm
508-20 Evans Hall

The Modern Synthesis has been hailed as a historical event that appeared to fulfill a project at least as deep as the Enlightenment project (or even deeper still) of unifying the branches of knowledge (Betty Smocovitis). What, in comparison, could or should an Extended Synthesis in an allegedly postmodern age look like? I introduce the discussion by calling attention to the rhetoric of unification. In then look back at the Modern Synthesis what it was (not), which disagreements it generated ? to document its remarkable resilience. I go on considering the fate of the positivist "unity of science" program, which, somewhat paradoxically, resulted in the current "anti-reductionist consensus" in the philosophy of biology. I also probe the form unification by synthesis can take on in a post-positivist framework, consider the recent turn in favor of disunity, and advocate a balanced, dialectical view. By way of conclusion, I reconsider the issue of the autonomy of biology in light of the trend toward the physicalization of biological disciplines such as systems biology.
(video)

Join Email List

You can subscribe to our weekly seminar email list by sending an email to majordomo@lists.berkeley.edu that contains the words subscribe redwood in the body of the message.
(Note: The subject line can be arbitrary and will be ignored)