Talk by René Zaragüeta: “Why, Willi, why? Phylogenetics and the dichotomy of trees”Talk by René Zaragüeta: “Why, Willi, why? Phylogenetics and the dichotomy of trees”Talk by René Zaragüeta: “Why, Willi, why? Phylogenetics and the dichotomy of trees”

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Date and time: Monday, April 13th, 11.30 am.

Location: Carlos Santamaría Building, Room B14
Speaker: René Zaragüeta i Bagils (Sorbonne, Paris)
Title: “Why, Willi, why? Phylogenetics and the dichotomy of trees”

Abstract: A cladogram is usually considered as resolved when all its branching points are bifurcations. The question I ask is: Why? Why all phylogenetic methods search dichotomous trees? Is evolution, or speciation, dichotomous? I suggest that Hennig’s principle of dichotomy is theoretically grounded. Cladograms—taxa and their relationships—are the result of a Cartesian analysis, which consists of the decomposition of taxa into homologies, i.e. hypotheses of degree of identity. Now, degree of identity is best represented by a ternary relationship, where two features are more identical to each other than any is to a third one. The foundation of taxa and their relationships upon homologies thus results in an intrinsically dichotomous pattern.

I speculate that the theoretical principle of dichotomy was present in Hennig’s theory. However, somehow, Hennig “forgot” his own arguments and the justification for this part of his theory.

Finally, I draw consequences of the theoretical foundation of dichotomy: if the evolutionary process needs not to be dichotomous, in which way are phylogenetic trees phylogenetic?

Talk by Thomas Reydon: Metaphysics Naturalized? The Case of Classification in the Sciences Talk by Thomas Reydon: Metaphysics Naturalized? The Case of Classification in the Sciences Talk by Thomas Reydon: Metaphysics Naturalized? The Case of Classification in the Sciences

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Date and time: Wednesday March 4th. 11.30 am.
Location: Carlos Santamaría Building, Room A4
Speaker: Thomas Reydon
Title: Metaphysics Naturalized? The Case of Classification in the Sciences

Abstract: While the topic of natural kinds has long been a focus of work in the philosophy of science, as well as in other areas of philosophy, a generally accepted account of natural kinds is still lacking. Moreover, there even is no general agreement about the kind of account that is being searched for, or about the criteria that a good account of natural kinds should meet. In response to these problems, in the philosophy of science (though not in other areas) there is a trend to move away from the metaphysics of kinds and classification and to turn to epistemological issues and questions regarding the use of kinds and classifications in various contexts. This trend fits well with the renewed interest in doing naturalistic philosophy of science and the increasing calls for bringing philosophy of science closer to scientific practice.

However, abandoning the search for a metaphysics of kinds and classifications is too quick. A metaphysical account of kinds is a crucial element of the explanation why some kinds and classifications are used in the sciences with more success than others, and some ways of grouping things turn out not to be useful at all. After all, barring cases of epistemic luck the reason for the epistemic and practical success of kinds and classifications must be that they adequately represent some aspect of the world or other. But problem for naturalistic philosophers wanting to elucidate the metaphysics of scientific kinds and classifications is whether naturalistic and practice-oriented philosophy of science can at all come up with an account of the metaphysics of kinds and classifications, rather than staying with epistemological and practical issues. Metaphysics cannot be read off from either epistemology or practice: simply examining scientific kinds and classifications and the ways in which investigators in the various areas of science employ them will not reveal their underpinnings. Thus, some a priori considerations need to enter into the picture – but a priori metaphysics is suspect from a naturalistic viewpoint.

The challenge for a naturalistic and practice-oriented metaphysics of kinds and classification, then, is to bring a priori considerations into play without rendering the account insufficiently naturalistic. In this talk I addresses this challenge and explore what a thoroughly naturalistic metaphysics of kinds and classifications should look like. I will do this by examining two core notions in the debate on kinds and classification, namely the notions of naturalness and, in particular, normativity.


Talk by Olatz González (UPV-EHU): Visualising Basque Fratriarchy: Enactions and Recognition in the Sport of PelotaTalk by Olatz González (UPV-EHU): Visualising Basque Fratriarchy: Enactions and Recognition in the Sport of PelotaTalk by Olatz González (UPV-EHU): Visualising Basque Fratriarchy: Enactions and Recognition in the Sport of Pelota

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Date: Monday, March 2

Time: 11.30 a.m.

Place: Carlos Santamaría Room B14

Speaker: Olatz González (University of Basque Country)

Abstract: Coming soon

Talk by Carissa Véliz (U. of Oxford): “In defence of habits”Talk by Carissa Véliz (U. of Oxford): “In defence of habits”Talk by Carissa Véliz (U. of Oxford): “In defence of habits”

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Date and time: Monday Dec. 15th. 11.00 am.
Location: Carlos Santamaría Building, Room B14
Speaker: Carissa Véliz (U. of Oxford)
Abstract:
It is tempting to think that habitual behaviour is undesirable when it comes to morality and politics. When we think of an ideal moral agent and citizen, we tend to imagine someone whose behaviour is the result of careful rational deliberation and not habitual impulses. Kant, for example, believed that “As a rule all habits are reprehensible.” (2006, §9, 149). Habits seem particularly threatening for projects seeking social change, for habits enable people to go through their day-to-day life without conscious questioning of what they do, and partly constitute a basic resistance to doing things differently.
I argue that habits are an inevitable part of moral and political life, and that this is not necessarily negative; although habits are often instrumental to maintaining the status quo, they can also be tools for social change. I will first present five features of habitual action. I will then differentiate between habits, dispositions, and practices, and argue for the conceptual advantages of talking of habits in moral and political philosophy. Finally, I will argue against views of habits as obstacles to responsible moral and political behaviour leading to social transformation.

“Enactivism without autonomy?” – IAS-Research Seminar by Xabier E. Barandiaran

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Date and time: 24th November 2014, at 12.00
Location: Carlos Santamaria Building, Room B14.
Speaker: Xabier E. Barandiaran
Title: Enactivism without autonomy? What went wrong at the roots of enactivism and how we should recover the autonomous foundations of sensorimotor agency.
Abstract: Different varieties of enactivism struggle to fill the empty throne after the long reign of representational cognitivism. And the notion of autonomy is one of the central claims under dispute within the different enactivist research programmes, despite the central role that it played on the early enactivist foundations. It is the very autonomy of enactivism itself what is at stake here, if it doesn’t want to be integrated back into a reformed version of representational cognitivism or subsumed under new forms of behaviourism. In this work I will show why autonomy is a necessary component of the enactive programme, I shall clarify some foundational misunderstandings or conceptual obstacles that have made autonomy a difficult notion to assume for some sensorimotor enactive approaches and, finally, I will propose to introduce autonomy back at the roots of enactivism through the notion of habit and sensorimotor agency.
Extended abstract: Enactivism without Autonomy? What went wrong at the roots of enactivism and how we should recover the autonomous foundations of sensorimotor agency.

Dec. 1. Talk by Leonardo Bich: Biological Regulation: an organisational accountDec. 1. Talk by Leonardo Bich: Biological Regulation: an organisational accountDec. 1. Talk by Leonardo Bich: Biological Regulation: an organisational account

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TITLE: Biological Regulation: an organisational account

LOCATION: Centro Carlos Santamaría Zentroa B14

TIME: Dec 1, 11.00

ABSTRACT; Biological systems exhibit a wide range of molecular mechanisms and behavioral strategies to ensure their survival under variable conditions. All of these mechanisms tend to be interpreted as regulatory because they contribute to the maintenance of  the system’s viability against perturbations by modulating their own basic dynamics. However, despite the widespread appeal to the notion of regulation in biology, be it for explanatory, modeling or defining purposes, the meaning of this notion is left somehow vague and its relationship with akin concepts, such as homeostasis, robustness, feedback or adaptation is hardly stated in clear terms. I will propose an organizational approach to regulation, by focusing on the mechanisms at the basis of responses to perturbations in minimal living systems. In the first place, I will analyze different forms of control in the cell, and how they can be recruited by biological organization to respond to internal or external perturbations. In doing so I will distinguish between two different classes of responses, based respectively on stability and regulatory mechanisms. I will describe the limits of stability as an adaptive response, and I will provide a definition and a basic set of organizational requirement for regulation, by pointing out the differences with similar concepts such as feedback. robustness and homeostasis.

17 Nov., Talk by Sara Murillo – Towards integrative compartmentalized chemical systems: a lipid-peptide rendez-vous17 Nov., Talk by Sara Murillo – Towards integrative compartmentalized chemical systems: a lipid-peptide rendez-vous17 Nov., Talk by Sara Murillo – Towards integrative compartmentalized chemical systems: a lipid-peptide rendez-vous

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Towards integrative compartmentalized chemical systems: a lipid-peptide rendez-vous.

Sara Murillo Sanchez1,2, Damien Beaufils,3 Robert Pascal,3  Kepa Ruiz-Mirazo1,2,

 

1Biophysics Unit (CSIC, UPV/EHU), Leioa, Spain; 2Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science, UPV, Donostia−San Sebastián, Spain; 3IBMM, CNRS – Université de Montpellier, Place E. Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France

Maturana and Varela’s work on the theory of autopoiesis in the seventies and eighties led to a conception of life as a form of organization, by which each living entity recursively produces itself, including the boundary with its local environment (i.e., the cellular compartment). In more recent times, we have applied a similar idea, ‘basic autonomy’ [1], to design a research agenda in the field of origins of life, proposing it as an intermediate bridge between complex self-organizing phenomena and ‘genetically-instructed metabolisms’ – i.e., minimal but already full-fledged living organisms, capable of open-ended evolution [2].

This systems view for the origin of life is grounded on the idea that biological organization should result from the functional integration of diverse autocatalytic subsystems maintained in far-from-equilibrium conditions. The authors of this work come from two different fields of research, prebiotic peptide synthesis [3, 4] and fatty acid compartment self-assembly [5], but share the aim of investigating the relevance of coupled processes that could connect both fields.

The membrane-assisted formation of oligo-peptides [6,7] or more recent endogenous synthesis of a hydrophobic peptide that gets inserted in the lipid bilayer of a protocell  [8] have opened new research pathways into the possibility that peptides could be helpful for the growth and stability of lipid vesicles.

We present here the first results of a collaborative work in which the presence of fatty acid vesicles has been demonstrated to favor the peptide bond formation, potentially leading to a prebiotic process of selection and amplification of peptide residues. In turn, the insertion of the type of peptides synthesized here into fatty acid membranes could also contribute to their stability, representing a positive feedback for vesicle self-assembly and potential growth and reproduction.

References:

[1] K. Ruiz-Mirazo, A. Moreno, 2004, Artificial Life, 10(3), 235–2597

[2] K. Ruiz-Mirazo, J. Umerez & A. Moreno, 2008, Biology and Philosophy, 23(1), 67–85

[3] D. Beaufils, G. Danger, L. Boiteau, R. Pascal, 2014. Chem. Commun, 50 :3100–3102

[4] G. Danger, R. Plasson, R. Pascal, 2012, Chemical Society Reviews, 41:5416–29.

[5] A. Rendón, D. Gil Carton, J. Sot, M. García-Palacios, R. Montes, M. Valle, J-L. Arrondo, F.M. Goñi, K. Ruiz-Mirazo, 2012, Biophysical Journal, 102: 278-286.

[6] M. Blocher, D. Liu, P. L. Luisi, 2000, Macromolecules, 33:5787-5796

[7] H. H. Zepik, S. Rajamani, M.-C. Maurel, D. Deamer, 2007, Orig. Life Evol. Biosph. 37, 495-505.

[8] K. Adamala, J. W. Szostak, 2013, Nat. Chem. 5, 495–501

 

Towards integrative compartmentalized chemical systems: a lipid-peptide rendez-vous.

Sara Murillo Sanchez1,2, Damien Beaufils,3 Robert Pascal,3  Kepa Ruiz-Mirazo1,2,

 

1Biophysics Unit (CSIC, UPV/EHU), Leioa, Spain; 2Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science, UPV, Donostia−San Sebastián, Spain; 3IBMM, CNRS – Université de Montpellier, Place E. Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France

Maturana and Varela’s work on the theory of autopoiesis in the seventies and eighties led to a conception of life as a form of organization, by which each living entity recursively produces itself, including the boundary with its local environment (i.e., the cellular compartment). In more recent times, we have applied a similar idea, ‘basic autonomy’ [1], to design a research agenda in the field of origins of life, proposing it as an intermediate bridge between complex self-organizing phenomena and ‘genetically-instructed metabolisms’ – i.e., minimal but already full-fledged living organisms, capable of open-ended evolution [2].

This systems view for the origin of life is grounded on the idea that biological organization should result from the functional integration of diverse autocatalytic subsystems maintained in far-from-equilibrium conditions. The authors of this work come from two different fields of research, prebiotic peptide synthesis [3, 4] and fatty acid compartment self-assembly [5], but share the aim of investigating the relevance of coupled processes that could connect both fields.

The membrane-assisted formation of oligo-peptides [6,7] or more recent endogenous synthesis of a hydrophobic peptide that gets inserted in the lipid bilayer of a protocell  [8] have opened new research pathways into the possibility that peptides could be helpful for the growth and stability of lipid vesicles.

We present here the first results of a collaborative work in which the presence of fatty acid vesicles has been demonstrated to favor the peptide bond formation, potentially leading to a prebiotic process of selection and amplification of peptide residues. In turn, the insertion of the type of peptides synthesized here into fatty acid membranes could also contribute to their stability, representing a positive feedback for vesicle self-assembly and potential growth and reproduction.

References:

[1] K. Ruiz-Mirazo, A. Moreno, 2004, Artificial Life, 10(3), 235–2597

[2] K. Ruiz-Mirazo, J. Umerez & A. Moreno, 2008, Biology and Philosophy, 23(1), 67–85

[3] D. Beaufils, G. Danger, L. Boiteau, R. Pascal, 2014. Chem. Commun, 50 :3100–3102

[4] G. Danger, R. Plasson, R. Pascal, 2012, Chemical Society Reviews, 41:5416–29.

[5] A. Rendón, D. Gil Carton, J. Sot, M. García-Palacios, R. Montes, M. Valle, J-L. Arrondo, F.M. Goñi, K. Ruiz-Mirazo, 2012, Biophysical Journal, 102: 278-286.

[6] M. Blocher, D. Liu, P. L. Luisi, 2000, Macromolecules, 33:5787-5796

[7] H. H. Zepik, S. Rajamani, M.-C. Maurel, D. Deamer, 2007, Orig. Life Evol. Biosph. 37, 495-505.

[8] K. Adamala, J. W. Szostak, 2013, Nat. Chem. 5, 495–501

 

Towards integrative compartmentalized chemical systems: a lipid-peptide rendez-vous.

Sara Murillo Sanchez1,2, Damien Beaufils,3 Robert Pascal,3  Kepa Ruiz-Mirazo1,2,

 

1Biophysics Unit (CSIC, UPV/EHU), Leioa, Spain; 2Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science, UPV, Donostia−San Sebastián, Spain; 3IBMM, CNRS – Université de Montpellier, Place E. Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France

Maturana and Varela’s work on the theory of autopoiesis in the seventies and eighties led to a conception of life as a form of organization, by which each living entity recursively produces itself, including the boundary with its local environment (i.e., the cellular compartment). In more recent times, we have applied a similar idea, ‘basic autonomy’ [1], to design a research agenda in the field of origins of life, proposing it as an intermediate bridge between complex self-organizing phenomena and ‘genetically-instructed metabolisms’ – i.e., minimal but already full-fledged living organisms, capable of open-ended evolution [2].

This systems view for the origin of life is grounded on the idea that biological organization should result from the functional integration of diverse autocatalytic subsystems maintained in far-from-equilibrium conditions. The authors of this work come from two different fields of research, prebiotic peptide synthesis [3, 4] and fatty acid compartment self-assembly [5], but share the aim of investigating the relevance of coupled processes that could connect both fields.

The membrane-assisted formation of oligo-peptides [6,7] or more recent endogenous synthesis of a hydrophobic peptide that gets inserted in the lipid bilayer of a protocell  [8] have opened new research pathways into the possibility that peptides could be helpful for the growth and stability of lipid vesicles.

We present here the first results of a collaborative work in which the presence of fatty acid vesicles has been demonstrated to favor the peptide bond formation, potentially leading to a prebiotic process of selection and amplification of peptide residues. In turn, the insertion of the type of peptides synthesized here into fatty acid membranes could also contribute to their stability, representing a positive feedback for vesicle self-assembly and potential growth and reproduction.

References:

[1] K. Ruiz-Mirazo, A. Moreno, 2004, Artificial Life, 10(3), 235–2597

[2] K. Ruiz-Mirazo, J. Umerez & A. Moreno, 2008, Biology and Philosophy, 23(1), 67–85

[3] D. Beaufils, G. Danger, L. Boiteau, R. Pascal, 2014. Chem. Commun, 50 :3100–3102

[4] G. Danger, R. Plasson, R. Pascal, 2012, Chemical Society Reviews, 41:5416–29.

[5] A. Rendón, D. Gil Carton, J. Sot, M. García-Palacios, R. Montes, M. Valle, J-L. Arrondo, F.M. Goñi, K. Ruiz-Mirazo, 2012, Biophysical Journal, 102: 278-286.

[6] M. Blocher, D. Liu, P. L. Luisi, 2000, Macromolecules, 33:5787-5796

[7] H. H. Zepik, S. Rajamani, M.-C. Maurel, D. Deamer, 2007, Orig. Life Evol. Biosph. 37, 495-505.

[8] K. Adamala, J. W. Szostak, 2013, Nat. Chem. 5, 495–501

 

10th Nov., talk by Oier Etxeberria: AITA LABURU Imágenes y palabras sobre magia y locura en el País Vasco (1933-1935)10th Nov., talk by Oier Etxeberria: AITA LABURU Imágenes y palabras sobre magia y locura en el País Vasco (1933-1935)10th Nov., talk by Oier Etxeberria: AITA LABURU Imágenes y palabras sobre magia y locura en el País Vasco (1933-1935)

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TITLE: AITA LABURU Imágenes y palabras sobre magia y locura en el País Vasco (1933-1935)

LOCATION: Centro Carlos Santamaría Zentro B14

DATE: 10th Nov., 11:00

ABSTRACT: El padre Laburu fue uno de los primeros documentalistas del
cine vasco. Sus filmes en torno a los ritos mágicos en la medicina
popular, los experimentos perceptivos realizados con los animales, su
interes por los zoológicos y los centros de internamiento
psiquiátrico, constituyen un legado sustancial para la llamada
antropología visual y sin duda muestran a un intelectual (teologo,
medico) interesado en indagar en las zonas oscuras del pensamiento
racional y cientifico. La inclusion de estos materiales en el contexto
de Pure Data, un proyecto a la que recientemente he dedicado una
exposición[1], la presentación en el 33º festival de cine de NAFA y
ahora esta presentación ante un publico universitario constituye una
oportunidad para tratar de analizar hasta que punto la progresiva
tecnificación medica de la sociedad y su poder empirico-instumental
convive con la sacralizacion con la que paulatinamente se nos muestra
la gestión de la salud.

TITLE: AITA LABURU Imágenes y palabras sobre magia y locura en el País Vasco (1933-1935)

LOCATION: Centro Carlos Santamaría Zentro B14

DATE: 10th Nov., 11:00

ABSTRACT: El padre Laburu fue uno de los primeros documentalistas del

cine vasco. Sus filmes en torno a los ritos mágicos en la medicina

popular, los experimentos perceptivos realizados con los animales, su

interes por los zoológicos y los centros de internamiento

psiquiátrico, constituyen un legado sustancial para la llamada

antropología visual y sin duda muestran a un intelectual (teologo,

medico) interesado en indagar en las zonas oscuras del pensamiento

racional y cientifico. La inclusion de estos materiales en el contexto

de Pure Data, un proyecto a la que recientemente he dedicado una

exposición[1], la presentación en el 33º festival de cine de NAFA y

ahora esta presentación ante un publico universitario constituye una

oportunidad para tratar de analizar hasta que punto la progresiva

tecnificación medica de la sociedad y su poder empirico-instumental

convive con la sacralizacion con la que paulatinamente se nos muestra

la gestión de la salud.

TITLE: AITA LABURU Imágenes y palabras sobre magia y locura en el País Vasco (1933-1935)

LOCATION: Centro Carlos Santamaría Zentro B14

DATE: 10th Nov., 11:00

ABSTRACT: El padre Laburu fue uno de los primeros documentalistas del

cine vasco. Sus filmes en torno a los ritos mágicos en la medicina

popular, los experimentos perceptivos realizados con los animales, su

interes por los zoológicos y los centros de internamiento

psiquiátrico, constituyen un legado sustancial para la llamada

antropología visual y sin duda muestran a un intelectual (teologo,

medico) interesado en indagar en las zonas oscuras del pensamiento

racional y cientifico. La inclusion de estos materiales en el contexto

de Pure Data, un proyecto a la que recientemente he dedicado una

exposición[1], la presentación en el 33º festival de cine de NAFA y

ahora esta presentación ante un publico universitario constituye una

oportunidad para tratar de analizar hasta que punto la progresiva

tecnificación medica de la sociedad y su poder empirico-instumental

convive con la sacralizacion con la que paulatinamente se nos muestra

la gestión de la salud.

Prof. Alvaro Moreno: The Limits of Science as Biological Limits of Human Beings – CSM B14, 3 Nov., 11amProf. Alvaro Moreno: The Limits of Science as Biological Limits of Human Beings – CSM B14, 3 Nov., 11amProf. Alvaro Moreno: The Limits of Science as Biological Limits of Human Beings – CSM B14, 3 Nov., 11am

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THE LIMITS OF SCIENCE AS BIOLOGICAL LIMITS OF HUMAN BEINGS

Alvaro Moreno

In this talk I will analyze the nature of Science considered as a specific form of human action. I will first analyze the epistemic dimension of science, its limits, and the role that philosophy could play in this domain. Second, I will consider science from a broader perspective, as a system embedded in the development of human society. From this perspective, science has caused an accelerated process of economic growth. But this process, which lacks a global regulatory control, is potentially self-destructive because it undermines the ecological logic, which is based on building sustainable cycles among species. As I will explain, a clash between the specific expansion of the human niche (as driven by science) and the induced transformations in the global ecosystem seems inevitable because the change in the forms of human interaction with other species is cultural, not genetic, and therefore its speed makes it virtually impossible a re-adaptation by most of the biological species.

THE LIMITS OF SCIENCE AS BIOLOGICAL LIMITS OF HUMAN BEINGS

Alvaro Moreno

In this talk I will analyze the nature of Science considered as a specific form of human action. I will first analyze the epistemic dimension of science, its limits, and the role that philosophy could play in this domain. Second, I will consider science from a broader perspective, as a system embedded in the development of human society. From this perspective, science has caused an accelerated process of economic growth. But this process, which lacks a global regulatory control, is potentially self-destructive because it undermines the ecological logic, which is based on building sustainable cycles among species. As I will explain, a clash between the specific expansion of the human niche (as driven by science) and the induced transformations in the global ecosystem seems inevitable because the change in the forms of human interaction with other species is cultural, not genetic, and therefore its speed makes it virtually impossible a re-adaptation by most of the biological species.

THE LIMITS OF SCIENCE AS BIOLOGICAL LIMITS OF HUMAN BEINGS

Alvaro Moreno

In this talk I will analyze the nature of Science considered as a specific form of human action. I will first analyze the epistemic dimension of science, its limits, and the role that philosophy could play in this domain. Second, I will consider science from a broader perspective, as a system embedded in the development of human society. From this perspective, science has caused an accelerated process of economic growth. But this process, which lacks a global regulatory control, is potentially self-destructive because it undermines the ecological logic, which is based on building sustainable cycles among species. As I will explain, a clash between the specific expansion of the human niche (as driven by science) and the induced transformations in the global ecosystem seems inevitable because the change in the forms of human interaction with other species is cultural, not genetic, and therefore its speed makes it virtually impossible a re-adaptation by most of the biological species.