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Sex Traits and Individual Differences: Stabilising and Destabilising Binary Categories in Biological PracticeBritish Journal for the Philosophy of Science. forthcoming.
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76Reorienting the Debate on Biological Individuality: Politics and Practices: Review of Alison K. McConwell. Biological Individuality. Elements in the Philosophy of Biology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 93pp. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108942775; ISBN: 9781009387422 (review)Acta Biotheoretica 72 (1): 4. 2024.Biological individuality is without a doubt a key concept in philosophy of biology. Questions around the individuality of organisms, species, and biological systems can be traced throughout the philosophy of biology since the discipline’s inception, not to mention the sustained attention they have received in biology and philosophy more broadly. It’s high time the topic got its own Cambridge Element. McConwell’s Biological Individuality falls short of an authoritative overview of the debate on b…Read more
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12Individual-level mechanisms in ecology and evolutionIn William C. Bausman, Janella K. Baxter & Oliver M. Lean (eds.), From biological practice to scientific metaphysics, University of Minnesota Press. 2023.
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112Tracking technology has been heralded as transformative for animal ecology. In this paper I examine what changes are taking place, showing how current animal movement research is a field ripe for philosophical investigation. I focus first on how the devices alter the limitations and biases of traditional field observation, making observation of animal movement and behaviour possible in more detail, for more varied species, and under a broader variety of conditions, as well as restricting the inf…Read more
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20Introduction to niches and mechanisms in ecology and evolutionBiology and Philosophy 37 (6): 1-7. 2022.Niches and mechanisms are two important but contested elements in the study of organism-environment interactions. Although they are closely interrelated, with niches playing a crucial role in theorizing about ecological and evolutionary mechanisms such as niche construction, facilitation, and species invasion, philosophical discussions about each issue have been largely disconnected. This collection addresses this gap, bringing together contributions from philosophers and biologists about the ni…Read more
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94Individual differences, uniqueness, and individuality in behavioural ecologyStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 96 (C): 18-26. 2022.In this paper I develop a concept of behavioural ecological individuality. Using findings from a case study which employed qualitative methods, I argue that individuality in behavioural ecology should be defined as phenotypic and ecological uniqueness, a concept that is operationalised in terms of individual differences such as animal personality and individual specialisation. This account make sense of how the term “individuality” is used in relation to intrapopulation variation in behavioural …Read more
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39Defining the niche for niche construction: evolutionary and ecological nichesBiology and Philosophy 36 (3): 1-20. 2021.Niche construction theory (NCT) aims to transform and unite evolutionary biology and ecology. Much of the debate about NCT has focused on construction. Less attention has been accorded to the niche: what is it, exactly, that organisms are constructing? In this paper I compare and contrast the definition of the niche used in NCT with ecological niche definitions. NCT’s concept of the evolutionary niche is defined as the sum of selection pressures affecting a population. So defined, the evolutiona…Read more
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551Broadening the problem agenda of biological individuality: individual differences, uniqueness and temporalityBiology and Philosophy 36 (2): 1-28. 2021.Biological individuality is a notoriously thorny topic for biologists and philosophers of biology. In this paper we argue that biological individuality presents multiple, interconnected questions for biologists and philosophers that together form a problem agenda. Using a case study of an interdisciplinary research group in ecology, behavioral and evolutionary biology, we claim that a debate on biological individuality that seeks to account for diverse practices in the biological sciences should…Read more
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40The Online Alternative: Sustainability, Justice, And Conferencing in PhilosophyEuropean Journal of Analytic Philosophy 16 (2): 145-171. 2020.The recent global pandemic has led to a shift to online conferences in philosophy. In this paper we argue that online conferences, more than a temporary replacement, should be considered a sustainable alternative to in-person conferences well into the future. We present three arguments for more online conferences, including their reduced impact on the environment, their enhanced accessibility for groups that are minorities in philosophy, and their lower financial burdens, especially important gi…Read more
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7Laura Hengehold, Simone de Beauvoir’s Philosophy of Individuation: The Problem of The Second Sex (review)philoSOPHIA: A Journal of Continental Feminism 10 (1): 131-135. 2020.
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11Simone de Beauvoir’s Philosophy of Individuation: The Problem of The Second Sex by Laura Hengehold (review)philoSOPHIA: A Journal of Continental Feminism 10 (1): 131-135. 2020.
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34Conference Report: The Third International Conference of the German Society for Philosophy of Science (GWP.2019), 25-27 February, 2019 (review)Kriterion - Journal of Philosophy 33 (1): 107-110. 2019.
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58Evaluating Elizabeth Grosz's Biological TurnHypatia 34 (4): 736-754. 2019.Elizabeth Grosz's interpretation of Darwinian evolutionary theory to ground a feminist ontology of biology has been particularly controversial. Most critics have understood Grosz as supporting her theory with empirical evidence, and they criticize her for being either inaccurate or uncritical of and overly dependent on science. I argue that Grosz reads Darwin as a philosopher in a Deleuzian and Irigarayan sense, and that Grosz's project is therefore better understood in terms of its ethical and …Read more
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University of BergenPost-doctoral Fellow
Exeter, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Biology |
Feminist Philosophy |