What is an agent, and does an organism have to be conscious to be one? How does organismal agency affect evolution?
In this episode, we talk with Samir Okasha, a Professor of Philosophy of Science at the University of Bristol. Samir studies fundamental philosophical questions in evolutionary biology, most notably how selection acts on various levels of biological organization. Our discussion focuses on his book “Agents and Goals in Evolution,” in which he unpacks various definitions of agency and outlines their evolutionary implications. We talk about whether genes and groups of individuals can be agents, whether agency is heritable, where variation in agency comes from, and the relationship between agency and adaptation.
Cover art: Keating Shahmehri. Find a transcript of this episode on our website.
--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bigbiology/supportShifting mutational landscapes (Ep 120)
Big Biology Presents: The Naked Scientists Podcast
Biology as its own metaphor (Ep 119)
Dog in the Machine (Ep 118)
The time of your life (Ep 117)
Rewilding biology (Ep 116)
Follow the data: the search for COVID’s origin (Ep 105)
Cooperation versus conflict and the path to multicellularity (Ep 107)
How power explains the history of life (Ep 114)
Cephalopods: aliens among us (Ep 113)
The Entangled Organism (Ep 112)
Evolution of the Invaders (Ep 111)
Tempest in a barcode: how rapidly can we (and should we) identify new species? (Ep 110)
Nothing in biology makes sense except through time (Ep 109)
The dialectical biologists: challenges of studying evolution in nature (Ep 108)
Long-term experimental evolution in the wild (Ep 106)
Big Bio Bonus Episode: We’re Hiring!
Little Biology: Why can’t I regrow my arm?
Sleeping beauties: the mystery of dormant innovations in nature and culture (Ep 104)
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
DNA Today: A Genetics Podcast
Short Wave
Unexplainable
Stuff To Blow Your Mind
Speaking of Psychology