The Philosophy of Biology @ Madison Workshop is designed to provide a
biennial forum for new work in the philosophy of biology in the off-
years when the Philosophy of Science Association and ISHPSSB meetings
do not occur. The format of the workshop will provide an opportunity
for speakers to receive constructive feedback from interested
colleagues, and for other participants to become acquainted with new
work in the field. Presented work can be on any topic in philosophy of
biology or biologically oriented philosophy of science.

The workshop will take place from Friday, May 21st through Sunday, May
23rd 2010

This year’s keynote speaker will be Richard Lewontin (Harvard).

We welcome submissions on any topic in the philosophy of biology or
general philosophy of science with a biological focus.

Those who would like to present their work at the workshop must submit
an abstract of 2-3 double-spaced pages by September 15, 2009. There is
a limit of one submission per person. All abstracts should be
submitted via email to Elliott Sober (ersober@wisc.edu).

Abstracts will be reviewed by a program committee. Those submitting
abstracts will be notified in early December of the program
committee’s decision.

Those selected for the program need to submit their papers at least
six weeks prior to the workshop. These papers will then be made
available on the workshop website. Though the papers can be of any
length, speakers will be limited to thirty minutes to present their
ideas. Speakers are strongly encouraged to talk through the central
ideas of their paper, rather than read it. There will be no official
commentators, thereby enhancing opportunities for participation among
all workshop attendees, who are expected to have read the papers
before the workshop.

See http://philosophy.wisc.edu/sober/pobam/registration.html for more
information about the conference, how to register, etc.

Animal Intelligence Lecture

http://darwin.asu.edu/index.php

Arizona State University celebrates Darwin‘s 200th birthday and commemorates the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species withDarwinfest – a creative scientific enterprise.

http://www.phylosophy.org/eb

Bargh, J. and E. Morsella (2008). “The unconscious mind.” Perspectives on psychological science 3(1).

在animal mind的討論中，我們follow Bekoff的看法認為意識的象徵是flexibility (John Searle也這麼認為)，所以我們直接condemn 無意識是一種自動化的hard-wired過程。然而這篇從演化與無意識研究的角度批評這一派的看法，提出演化與實證的論證說無意識不只是變化性、適應性與意向性十足，甚至我們賦予意識的這些功能是來自於無意識的。 請大家看看，有意見歡迎多交流。

技術方面的兩大困境被突破了：

成蟲植入後死亡率高怎麼辦？

在蟲完全變態的時期植入晶片，然後等它長大成蟲時就可以控制了。

怎麼充電？生物能！！！

Images taken by x-ray of insects with these changes and others found that tissue growth around the inserted probes was good. One DARPA goal is to show that during locomotion the heat and mechanical power generated by the thorax could be harnessed to power the MEMS. （取自Flight International文章）

Figure 1: Cotinis texana beetle with microsystem and implanted electrodes for neuronal control.

新聞

Berkeley research team網址 （圖取自這個網站）

康乃爾在做相關研究的是 HI-MEMS (Hybrid Insect MEMS)團隊。

康乃爾這組人把電極鑲在dorsoventral and dorsolongitudinal flight muscles上以控制飛行。他們說靈感來自科幻作家Thomas Easton 1990 小說 Sparrowhawk

BBC相關報導 (2006)

其實大自然早就發展出這個策略了。

Toxoplasma gondii 這種寄生蟲會讓老鼠不怕貓，甚至會跑到貓常出沒的地方。但是用這招滅鼠一點也不好，因為這種寄生蟲就是讓人有精神分裂症的原因之一（schizophrenia)。（寄生蟲在貓的身體裡繁殖）

Dicrocoelium dendriticum寄生蟲會控制螞蟻爬到草的頂端給牛吃。（寄生蟲在牛的身體裡繁殖）

Euhaplorchis californiensis寄生蟲會讓魚跳到水面上給鳥吃。

Hairworms讓蟋蟀跳到水裡淹死自殺以便寄生蟲游走。

（以上資訊來源）

這裡面可以討論的倫理學soft issues很多，可以談昆蟲自主權（請見昆蟲權網站）也可以談戰爭應用和隱私權。

今年意識的會議好多喔。

Consciousness Online: The Cyber Consciousness Conference
February 20-27, 2009

Interdisciplinary graduate conference on consciousness
April 24-25, 2009
Deadline: Feb. 1

ASSC13 Berlin
June 5-8, 2009
Deadline: Feb. 15

Toward a Science of Consciousness, 2009 Hong Kong
June 11-14, 2009
Deadline: Feb. 15

還有生哲的會議想參加，好貪心XD 好有錢XD

生物學哲學與經濟學哲學國際會議暨工作坊 International Conference and Workshop on Philosophy of Biology and Philosophy of Economics

他們還辦了讀書會!

曾經聽darkbing說過成大生物對evolutionary biology比較有”sense,” 會辦這樣的workshop肯定是如此吧! 竟然也請到了 Alexander Rosenberg, Director of the Duke Center of Philosophy of Biology講”Natural Selection and Economic Models,” “Darwinism and Ethics: Must Naturalism be Nihilistic?”

短短不到一個月的時間, 兩個Duke大人物來. 而我埋頭苦幹申請, 竟然沒有發現到. 幸虧有社群的資源才知道了Owen Flanagan來台的事情。

Minnesota的申請才剛丟出去, 另一個keynote speaker竟就是Minnesota的Kenneth Waters講”Getting Real about Genetics and Genomics: An Antirealist View about Fundamental Theories”

很好奇是怎麼樣的台灣老師辦的, 所以看了一下讀書會的導讀名單.

◎導讀：陳瑞麟　教授（中正大學哲學所）Chapter1. Biology and Its Philosophy; Chapter2. Autonomy and Provincialism

◎導讀：陳恆安　教授（成功大學歷史所）Chapter3. Teleology and the Roots of Autonomy

◎導讀：楊倍昌　教授（成功大學微免所）Chapter4. Reductionism and the Temptation of Provincialism

◎導讀：王榮麟　教授（清華大學哲學所）Chapter5. The Structure of Evolutionary Theory

◎導讀：張忠宏　教授（中正大學哲學系）Chapter6. Fitness

◎導讀：賴伯琦　教授（大葉大學生物資源系）Chapter7. Species

Hmmmm沒有專長在生物哲學的, 但是Rosenberg本身就是偏科學理論的後涉討論, 所以科學哲學專長和生物學專長的老師應該是可以談談的, 但是談得好不好?

縱使我不希望一竿子打翻一艘船, 但在對國內哲學界的素質相當skeptical的情況下, 相當懷疑。有人有去這些讀書會嗎? 分享一下吧。

再看看會議論文，少得可憐。

真可惜…沒法去好好發揮一下, 下次一定要keep an extra eye open!