Philosophers of biology have recently been debating to what extent such nucleic acids that are said to carry genetic information (i.e., DNA or mRNA) really play a special role in development. A recent attempt to defend such a special role consists in arguing that nucleic acid is what makes an actual difference (as opposed to potential differences) to the amino acid sequence of proteins. However, this is not sufficient as there are often other actual-difference makers involved in protein synthesis, for example, splicing or post-translational modification mechanisms. For this reasons, it has been suggested that what distinguishes nucleic acid is their causal specificity. Causal specificity has to do with the amount of control that interventions on the cause variable can exert on the effect variable. However, a quantitative measure of causal specificity can be used to show that in many cases the specificity of non-genetic causes is a full match to the genetic causes. In this talk, Marcel Weber argue that what matters biologically is the causal specificity that inheres in possible interventions that are biologically normal, where biological normality is defined both in terms of what can happen in a population of organisms at a non-negligible probability and what is consistent with normal biological functioning of the rest of the organism. This kind of causal specificity is higher for genetic causes than for the (known) non-genetic causes.
Mot(s) clés libre(s) : genes, philosophy, Philosophie

Microbes have only recently become the objects of sustained philosophical attention. Some of the reasons why philosophers now find microbes and microbiology interesting, and why philosophy of microbiology might be a worthwhile activity are presented and discussed.
Mot(s) clés libre(s) : microbiologie, philosophy, Philosophie, microbiology

To write a global history of life sciences from Antiquity to extant research, from molecular biology to ecology and ethology is an impossible task, the promise to be inaccurate and wrong in many issues. Nevertheless, the result is not without interest. It casts a new light on continuities and discontinuities in biological thought, and on the relations between biology and other scientific disciplines. It reveals the circulation of concepts and methods between biological subdisciplines, and between Society and biology. It shows the complex dynamics of biological transformations that gives biology its specific nature.
Mot(s) clés libre(s) : epistémologie, philosophy, Philosophie

Henry Dicks presents the three major fields of the environmental philosophy: environmental ethics, environmental metaphysics and environmental aesthetics. He concludes with a discussion about the philosophy of a sustainable development.
Mot(s) clés libre(s) : ethics, environment, sustainable development, aesthetics, metaphysics, philosophy

I will distinguish between three types of interactionist reactions to internalist or externalist theories. These theories assign specific theoretical roles to internal and external factors, respectively. A « balanced » interactionist balances the relative weight of internal and external factors without changing their respective roles. An « extension » interactionist reassigns the roles to both factors. A « transformative » interactionist rejects the original theoretical framework, re-organizing internal and external factors under a new alternative. Examples will be drawn from major debates in evolutionary biology, developmental biology, and cognitive science. I then suggest that there could be three alternative interpretations to the « host-microbiota » holobiont/superorganism/metaorganism.
Mot(s) clés libre(s) : microbiologie, philosophy, Philosophie, microbiology