The Sophia Lectures With Heather Heying - Lecture 1: Foundations

In this opening lecture, Dr Heather Heying invites listeners on an exploration of the deep structures that underlie both scientific inquiry and the human experience of knowing. Moving fluidly between biology, philosophy, and the history of ideas, she challenges inherited beliefs while seeking reconciliation through a broader epistemic lens. Weaving together Darwin’s early evolutionary sketches, the concept of universals, and the distinction between biotic and abiotic origins, she explores how evolution shapes everything from molecular structures to symbolic expression, and how the universals of biology illuminate both human uniqueness and our continuity with the rest of life. Along the way, she reclaims the scientific method from dogma, distinguishes between biotic and abiotic origins, and examines the patterns of similarity and difference that reveal descent with modification. Ultimately, this talk is an invitation to see science not as a closed system of answers, but as a living mode of inquiry, attuned to both mystery and discovery.

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Authors and Works Mentioned in this Episode:

Nicole Oresme
Galileo
Mendeleev
Willi Hennig
Von Baer - On the History of the Development of Animals
Ernst Haeckel

– Chapters —

00:00 - Podcast Introduction
01:16 - Dr Blackwood Introduces Dr Heying
11:04 - Dr Heather Heying’s Lecture Begins
12:30 - Challenging Beliefs and Reconciliation
14:00 - Tractable Miracles
21:40 - Embracing Uncertainty
25:00 - Is It Evolved? The Biotic vs Abiotic Universe
29:25 - Darwin’s Early Evolutionary Sketches
33:15 - The Macro Scale: Deep Time
39:35 - Epistemology: How Do We Know?
45:27 - Four Types of Evidence
49:05 - Phenotypical Differences? - Wings without common descent
56:02 - Ontogeny Does Not Recapitulate Phylogeny
59:56 - Consilience