Two Pitfalls for Casual Reasoning in Biology

Thursday, March 28, 2024
4:00 PM - 5:30 PM
Armstrong Hall 214

This talk examines two types of difficulties encountered while reasoning about biological systems. The first, the translation problem, is a difficulty with imagining and predicting the behavior of biological phenomena that stems from the stochastic and contingent nature of many biological processes. The second, dubbed the interpretation problem, is a difficulty with identifying all the numerous salient causal factors and interactions behind the production of biological phenomena. Approaches to causal explanation are
best seen as heuristics, which focuses our attention on both how our conceptual tools resolve problems, and when and where they can break down.

This event is part of the Philosophy Colloquium Series. This event is free and open to the public.

About The PResenter

Dr. Derek Skillings (UNC-Greensboro) holds Ph.D.s in both philosophy and zoology. He works in philosophy of biology, philosophy of science and environmental ethics. He earned his undergraduate degree at Minnesota State University, Mankato.