Purpose in Biology and Beyond - Gunnar Babcock

Gunnar Babcock is a philosopher of science.

Science has pushed out purpose, dismissing it as unscientific because it requires positing some strange vital force driving entities. But what if there were a way to think of purpose (teleology) scientifically, naturalizing it in biology and beyond?

In this podcast, expect to learn about how purpose was pushed out of science, the role of purpose in biology, how even "inanimate" entities could be thought of as having purpose, reductionism in science, teleological fields at planetary and galactic scales, and more...

Timestamps:
00:00 – Purpose and Teleology in Science
03:15 – Historical Perspectives on Purpose in Biology
06:29 – Teleonomy vs. Teleology: Understanding Biological Programs
09:42 – Defining Purpose: Insights from Aristotle to Modern Theories
14:32 – A Spectrum of Purpose: Beyond Biological Systems
19:55 – Field Theory: External Influences on Goal-Directed Behavior
26:30 – Nested Hierarchies: Complexity in Organisms and Purpose
27:51 – Mechanistic vs. Higher-Level Causation
30:15 – Exploring Fields of Influence
33:56 – The Role of External Fields in Human Behavior
37:59 – Situationalism and Predictability in Human Actions
40:41 – Causal Forces: Natural Selection and Economic Fields
43:29 – Reductionism vs. Anti-Reductionism in Science
47:29 – The Mind, Memory, and Non-Locality
54:38 – Future Directions in Ethics and Cosmology

Find Gunnar:
-https://gunnarbabcock.wordpress.com/
-https://philpeople.org/profiles/gunna...