PRESENTATIONS

(* = Invited Talks)

2010

“The Developmental Basis of Novelty – Reflections on Explanatory Integration”, SSHRC workshop on ‘Perspectives on Evolutionary Novelty and Evo-devo: Integrating Explanatory Approaches in Biology’, McGill University – Redpath Museum, Montreal, Canada, November 2010.

“Modeling Experimental Evidence in Developmental Biology: In Situ Hybridization and Serial Idealization”, Philosophy of Scientific Experimentation Workshop, Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh, PA, October 2010.

“Reductionism and Evolutionary Explanations of Morality: Necessary Prerequisites “, Evolution and Ethics Conference, Peking University, Beijing, China, October 2010. *

“Models of Time for Reductive Explanations in Experimental Biology”, Types of Explanation in the Special Sciences –The Case of Biology and History, University of Cologne, Germany, September/October 2010. *

“Sciences without Theories: Structured Problems in Developmental Biology”, Institute for History and Philosophy of Science and Technology – Philosophy of Biology Seminar, University of Paris, France, September 2010. *

“A Pluralist Stance on Top-Down Causation”, Top-Down Causation: An Integrating Theme Within and Across the Sciences, The Royal Society, London, UK, September 2010. *

“Pluralism, Reduction, and the Metaphysics of Science”, Science Engages Metaphysics: Emergence, Reduction and Explanation, Wheaton College Science Station, Black Hills, SD, July 2010. *

“Evolutionary Innovation and Novelty: Conceptual Developments Since Dahlem”, Conceptual Change in Biological Science: Evolutionary Developmental Biology, 1981-2011, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Dahlem, Berlin, July 2010.

“Reductionism and the Philosophy of Biology”, lectures delivered for the St. Thomas Summer Seminar in Philosophy of Religion and Philosophical Theology, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN, June 2010. *

“The Origin and Evolution of Marine Invertebrate Larval Forms: Historical and Philosophical Perspectives”, Evolutionary Transitions in Marine Invertebrate Larval Forms, Picker Interdisciplinary Science Institute, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY, June 2010. *

“Commentary on Andrew Margenot and Derek Turner’s ‘Contingency and Relative Significance Debates in Biology’”, American Philosophical Association - Pacific Division Meeting, San Francisco, CA, April 2010. *

“Modeling Experimental Evidence: Idealization and In Situ Hybridization”, The Experimental Side of Modeling – II, San Francisco State University, CA, March 2010. *

“Evo-devo and Individuating Evolutionary Theory: A Different Kind of Challenge”, Challenges to Evolutionary Theory: An Interdisciplinary Workshop, University of Toronto, Canada, March 2010. *

“Sciences without Theories?”, American Philosophical Association - Central Division Meeting, Chicago, IL, February 2010.

“Three Aspects of Reductive Explanations in Biological Science”, Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science Colloquium, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, January 2010.

2009

“Aspects of Reductive Explanations in Biological Science: Intrinsicality, Fundamentality, and Temporality”, Emergence and Reduction in the Sciences – Second Pittsburgh-Paris Workshop, Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh, PA, December 2009.

“Darwin and Philosophy of Biology: Structure, Novelty, and Interdisciplinarity”, 150 Years of Evolution: Darwin’s Impact on the Humanities and the Social Sciences, San Diego State University, CA, November 2009. *

“Mechanisms for Generating Novel Variants: Conceptual Issues and Questions”, SSHRC workshop on ‘Integrating different biological approaches’, University of Alberta, Edmonton, November 2009.

“Formal versus Material Theories in Philosophy of Science”, European Philosophy of Science Association Meeting, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, October 2009.

“The Structure of Biological Problems and Explaining Evolutionary Novelties: Scientific and Philosophical Implications”, Symposium on Philosophy of Evolution, University of Groningen, The Netherlands, October 2009. *

“Evolutionary Innovations and Multidisciplinary Explanation in Biology: Prospects and Problems”, Symposium on ‘Evolutionary Innovations: Where Ecology, Development And Macroevolution Intersect’, AAAS-Pacific Division, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA, August 2009.

“Investigating the Meaning of Biological Information with Noise”, International Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, July 2009.

“The Heterogeneity of Experimental Practices in Developmental Biology: Epistemological Implications”, Society for the Philosophy of Science in Practice, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, June 2009.

“Temporal Dimensions of Reductionism in Biology”, American Philosophical Association - Pacific Division Meeting, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, April 2009.

“Temporal Dimensions of Reductionism in Biology”, Department of Philosophy, MSU – Mankato, MN, March 2009.*

2008

“Rethinking Conceptual Change in the Context of Evolutionary Developmental Biology”, Western Canadian Philosophical Association Meeting, University of Alberta, Edmonton, October 2008.

“The Structure of Evolutionary Theory and Biological Knowledge”, 18th Altenberg Workshop in Theoretical Biology - 'Towards an Extended Evolutionary Synthesis', Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution & Cognition Research, Altenberg, Austria, July 2008.*

“Asa Gray’s Evolving Perspective on Teleology, Variation, and Natural Theology”, International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science Meeting 2008, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, June 2008.

“Development and Evolution in Context: Embryos in Erotetic Dialogue”, Marine Biological Laboratories - Arizona State University History of Biology Seminar, Woods Hole, MA, May 2008.*

“Temporal Dimensions of Reductionism in Biology”, Science Studies Symposium: McKnight Summer Fellows Presentation (“Thinking Through Science: Philosophical Perspectives on Biology, Geography, and History”), University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, May 2008.

“The Structure of Evolutionary Theory and Biological Knowledge: Epistemic Materials for a 21st Century Synthesis”, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, SUNY – Stony Brook, New York, March 2008.*

2007

“Respondent to Kevin Theissen’s ‘Global Warming: What We Know and What We Do Not Know’”, North Central Program for Science and Theology, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN, November 2007.*

 “Consequences of an Intelligent Discussion about Design with Darwin: Asa Gray’s Evolving Perspective on Teleology and Natural Theology”, &HPS – Conference in Integrated History and Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, October 2007.

“Explanatory Adequacy in Philosophical Analyses of Reductionism” , International Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK, July 2007.

“Functional Homology and Homology of Function”, International Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK, July 2007.

“Reduction, Representation, and Temporality in Explanations of Ontogeny”, Center for Philosophy and Ethics of Science, University of Hannover, Hannover, Germany, June 2007.*

“Reduction, Representation, and Temporality in Explanations of Ontogeny”, Department of Philosophy, University of Münster, Münster, Germany, June 2007.*

“From Philosophy to Science: Evolutionary Developmental Perspectives”, Science and Philosophy (Sci-Phi) Symposium, SUNY-Stony Brook (Manhattan), New York, March 2007.

2006

“Physical Reductionism and Molecular Biology: Causation, Dispositions, and Protein Folding”, Department of Philosophy, St. Cloud State University, MN, November 2006.*

“Functional Homology and Homology of Function”, Philosophy and Developmental Biology Workshop, Vancouver, British Columbia, November 2006.

“Explaining Evolutionary Innovation and Novelty: Criteria of Adequacy and Multidisciplinary Prerequisites", Philosophy of Science Association Meeting 2006, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, November 2006.

“Commentary on Robert Wilson’s Boundaries of the Mind and Genes and the Agents of Life ('Author Meets Critics' Session)”, American Philosophical Association Meeting (Pacific Division), Portland, OR, March 2006.*

“Natural Theology: Recent Developments, Future Potential”, Cornell University, sponsored by Chesterton House and Graduate Christian Fellowship, Ithaca, NY, March 2006.*

“Reductionism, Development, and Time”, Philosophy of Biology Workshop, sponsored by the University of California-Irvine, Laguna Beach, CA, February 2006.*

“Criteria of Explanatory Adequacy in Disciplinary Syntheses: Revisiting ‘Incommensurability’ in the Context of Evolutionary Developmental Biology”, Dept. of Philosophy, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN, January 2006.*

“Evolutionary Morphology and Evo-devo: Hierarchy and Novelty”, Bay Area Biosystematists Meeting, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, January 2006.*

2005

“Comparative embryology and Evo-devo history: Lessons from N.J. Berrill’s embryological investigations of marine invertebrate evolution”, Office for History of Science and Technology, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, November 2005.*

“The Structure and Import of Developmental Genetic Explanations of Evolutionary Novelty”, International Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, July 2005.

“Commentary on ‘Revisiting the Darwinian Revolution’ (Special Issue of the Journal of the History of Biology, 2005)”, International Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, July 2005.*

“Evolutionary Developmental Biology and the Problem of Innovation and Novelty”, Dept. of Philosophy, California State University-Chico, Chico, CA, February 2005.*

“Evolutionary Developmental Biology and the Problem of Innovation and Novelty”, Dept. of Philosophy, University of California-Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, February 2005.*

“Explaining Innovation and Novelty: A Study on the Nature of Interdisciplinary Epistemology”, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA, February 2005.*

“N.J. Berrill and the evolutionary developmental biology of ascidians”, Division of Humanities, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, February 2005.*

“Evolutionary Developmental Biology and the Problem of Innovation and Novelty”, School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, February 2005.*

“Evolutionary Developmental Biology and the Problem of Innovation and Novelty”, Dept. of Philosophy, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, January 2005.*

2004

“Problem Agendas in Biological Research: The Case of Evolutionary Innovation and Novelty”, Dept. of Philosophy, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, MO, December 2004.*

“Problem Agendas in Biological Research: The Case of Evolutionary Innovation and Novelty”, Dept. of Philosophy, University of California-San Diego, San Diego, CA, October 2004.*

“Larval Homology, Ectoderm Novelty, and Skeletal Arm Morphogenesis in the Sea Urchin Genus Heliocidaris”, Dept. of Biology, Indiana University, IN, April 2004.

“Problem Agendas in Biological Research: The Case of Evolutionary Innovation and Novelty”, Dept. of History and Philosophy of Science, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, February 2004.*

“Problem Agendas in Biological Research: The Case of Evolutionary Innovation and Novelty”, Division of History and Philosophy of Science, Notre Dame University, South Bend, IN, January 2004.*

2003

“Organizational Homology, Sea Urchin Larvae, and Ectoderm Novelty”, Philosophy and Developmental Biology Workshop, Cambridge, MA, November 2003.

“N.J. Berrill and the evolutionary developmental biology of ascidians”, History of Science Society Meeting 2003, Cambridge, MA, November 2003.

“Evaluating Larval Homologies in Closely Related Species with Different Developmental Modes” (Scientific Poster Presentation), Developmental Basis of Evolutionary Change, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, October 2003.

“The Problem of Innovation and Novelty”, International Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, July 2003.

“Morphological and Paleontological Perspectives for a History of Evo-Devo”, Evolutionary Morphology Group, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, May 2003.*

“Concepts and Conceptual Change: A Hybrid Investigative Framework for Philosophy of Science”, Workshop on Cultural Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, May 2003.*

2002

“Evolvability, Dispositions, and Intrinsicality”, Philosophy of Science Association Meeting 2002, Milwaukee, WI, November 2002.

“Alternate Histories for Evo-Devo: Morphological and Paleontological Perspectives”, Dibner Institute for the History of Science Workshop, “From Embryology to Evo-Devo”, Cambridge, MA, October 2002.*

“Evolvability, Dispositions, and Intrinsicality”, 1st Annual Conference on Recent Work in Biology and Philosophy, Duke University, June 2002

“Comments on Menser (‘Explaining Patterns of Stasis and Change in Kingdom Animalia: Developmental Constraints, Evo-devo, and Devo-evo’)”, Philosophy and Developmental Biology Workshop, University of Texas-Austin, April 2002.*

“Evolutionary Morphology, Innovation, and the Synthesis of Evolutionary and Developmental Biology”, Philosophy of Biology Graduate Student Conference, University of Texas-Austin, April 2002.

“Causal Process Individuation, Contrastive Explanation, and Theoretical Generality. Comments on Brandon’s “The difference between drift and selection: A reply to Millstein”, Philosophy and History of Biology Workshop, University of Pittsburgh, March 2002.

2001

“Evolutionary Morphology, Innovation, and the Synthesis of Evolutionary and Developmental Biology”, Pittsburgh/London Colloquium on Philosophy of Biology and Neuroscience, University of London, London, UK, September, 2001.

2000

“Darwin and Cirripedia Prior to 1846”, Joint Atlantic Seminar on the History of Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, April, 2000.

 

OTHER CONFERENCE PARTICIPATION

Workshop Organizer for “Conceptual Change in Biological Science: Evolutionary Developmental Biology, 1981-2011”, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Dahlem, Berlin, July 2010.

Session Chair for “Genomic Programs as Mechanism Schemas: A Non-Reductionist Interpretation”, Philosophy of Biology at Madison (POBAM), University of Wisconsin-Madison, May 2010.

Symposium Co-organizer for “Genetics and Religion: Prospects for Dialogue”, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, September 2009.

Session Chair for “Information and Function”, International Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, July 2009.

Session Organizer for “Probing the Philosophical Consequences of Experimental Practices in Developmental Biology”, Society for the Philosophy of Science in Practice, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, June 2009.

“Emergence: From Physics to Biology”, The Seven Pines Symposium XI, Stillwater, MN, May 2007.

Session Chair for “Scientific Practice, Conceptual Change, and the Nature of Concepts”, Concepts and Objectivity: Knowledge, Science, and Values, University of Pittsburgh, September 2006.

Panel Discussion Chair for “Methods and Approaches to Biology”, Southwest Colloquium on the History and Philosophy of Life Sciences, UC-Davis, April 2006.

“Shifting Pasts: Four Dialogues on Change”, Second German-American Frontiers of Humanities Symposium, Hamburg, Germany, October 2005.

“Concept of the Gene in Contemporary Biology” Workshop, University of Pittsburgh, January 2003.

“From Embryology to Evo-Devo”, Dibner Institute Seminar on the History of Biology, Woods Hole, MA, May/June 2001.