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/supportEp 24: Mental Smoke Detectors
Ep 23: Beauty of the Beasts
Season 2 Preview
Ep 22: Whale Aware
Ep 21: Replaying the MP3 of Life
Ep 20: Ask Us Anything
Ep 19: Microbial Garden of Eden
Ep 18: Bug in the system
Ep 17: 1000 ways to make a baby
Ep 16: Rules of Life
Ep 15: Climate change: should they stay or should they go?
Ep 14: Plasticity? Sounds fishy.
Ep 13: Unraveling Genetic Knots
Ep 12: Containing Cancer with Squirrel Ecology
Ep 11: The Vagina Research Institute (Full Conversation)
Ep 11: The Vagina Research Institute
Ep 10: Tangling the Tree of Life
Ep 9: Information, Aliens, and the Origin of Life (Full Conversation)
Ep 9: Information, Aliens, and the Origin of Life
Ep 8: Immune System: Make Love not War (Full Conversation)
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