Biology and Its Philosophy; Lauren N. Ross (Theory of Living Matter Group, Cambridge University)

Introduction to the philosophy of science: What is it? How does it relate to science? Why does it matter? This talk discusses philosophy of biology and how it relates to the biological sciences. First, I provide some background on philosophy of biology including its main aims and how it differs from scientific work. Second, I introduce examples of work in this field–these examples will come from research on causation and explanation. This work explores how “causation” is (and should be) defined in biology, different causal terms that are used in this domain (e.g. mechanism, pathway, and cascade), and how these clarify issues surrounding causal explanation in biology. The third portion of this talk clarifies why philosophy of science matters and why we should care about it. Talk for Theory of Living Matter (TLM) Group at University of Cambridge