Job Opportunity: Postdoctoral Research Associate

The aim of the project is to examine how biological evolution has been represented – diagrammatically, verbally and mathematically – in the scientific literature, past and present. A secondary aim is to examine representations of evolution in the context of pedagogy and science communication. “Biological evolution” is taken to include the process of descent with modification that Darwin first described; the mechanisms that drive evolutionary process such as natural selection; and the products to which the process has given rise, such as organic adaptation and diversity. Scientists have constructed representations of each of these elements in their quest to understand how evolution works. This project will offer a systematic study of these representations, the concepts from which they are built, and the associated inferences, from an overarching philosophical perspective.

The core project team will comprise the Principal Investigator, two post-doctoral researchers, and a PhD student.

Participate in project related research activities

Employ research methods standard to philosophical enquiry, namely individual and collaborative scholarship, close study of the relevant literature, discussion with colleagues at conferences and specialist workshops, and regular writing

Contribute to the project’s distinctive methodology, namely its strong inter-disciplinary character

Produce at least two articles over the course of the project

Engage with a range of different audiences to communicate research findings

Participate in project-related work-in-progress meetings

Provide support for the organisation of events

Applications are invited from candidates with an interest in the project’s research questions who wish to pursue postdoctoral research in Philosophy, with a focus on philosophical issues to do with evolution. Applicants should have a background in philosophy of science, philosophy of biology, evolutionary biology, cognitive psychology, or a related field. The main criteria for the job are academic excellence and compatibility with the research project. The successful candidates will work with the Principle Investigator (Professor Samir Okasha) and the project team.

Representing Evolution website: https://representingevolution.xyz/

The anticipated start date for this post is January 2024.

Since its original conception in the mid-90s (Maynard Smith and Szathmary 1995) the idea of major evolutionary transitions has undergone evolutionary trajectories of its own. While the original formulation targeted a conjunction of events where new units of organisation evolve out of pre-existing ones, and events and where new modes of transferring information across generations evolve (Szathmáry 2015), later formulations have tended to be more coherent in explanatory targets as well as explanatory models, at the cost of scope. Particularly representative here is the derived concept of Evolutionary Transitions in Individuality, which focuses on the evolution of new biological individuals from pre-existing ones (Michod and Herron 2006, Bourke 2011, Calcott and Sterelny 2011, Birch 2017, Okasha 2022) and the closely-related debate around what biological individuality is (Clarke 2010, Pradeu 2016). This remains a lively area of debate within theoretical biology and philosophy of biology, and it continues to inspire similar research outside the realm of biology.

The purpose of this workshop was to stimulate discussion on the topic of major transitions in cultural evolutionary theory (Jablonka and Lamb 2006, Hodgson and Knudsen 2010, Waring and Wood 2021). While the prospects of applying the major transitions framework seem promising, given increasing hierarchical complexity in sociocultural systems over the course of their evolutionary histories, the approach faces challenges. For instance, how should we understand the central concepts of major transitions in biology? How do (or can) these concepts apply in the case of sociocultural processes? What explanatory benefits does major transition thinking offer in biology, and do these benefits transfer when applied to culture? The aim was to interrogate issues in major transitions thinking in biology, and assess the prospects of applying this thinking to sociocultural change.

Speakers: 

Samir Okasha

Ross Pain and Christine Balasa

Arsham Nejad Kourki

Richard Moore

Eva Jablonka

Tim Waring

Azita Chellappoo

Adrian Currie and Tyler Brunet

Daniel Lawson

Rachael Brown

Maureen O'Malley

Matthew Herron

David Harrison

Ellen Clarke

Ceri Shipton

Monique Borgerhoff-Mulder