281 | Samir Okasha on the Philosophy of Agency and Evolution

<p>Just like with physics, in biology it is perfectly possible to do most respectable work without thinking much about philosophy, but there are unmistakably foundational questions where philosophy becomes crucial. When do we say that a collection of matter (or bits) is alive? When does it become an agent, capable of making decisions? What are the origins of morality and altruistic behavior? We talk with one of the world's leading experts, Samir Okasha, about the biggest issues in modern philosophy of biology.</p> <p>S<em>upport Mindscape on </em><a href="https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Patreon</em></a><em>.</em></p> <p>Blog post with transcript: <a href="https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/07/01/281-samir-okasha-on-the-philosophy-of-agency-and-evolution/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/07/01/281-samir-okasha-on-the-philosophy-of-agency-and-evolution/</a></p> <p>Samir Okasha received his D.Phil. in Philosophy from the University of Oxford. He is currently Professor of the Philosophy of Science at the University of Bristol. He is a winner of the Lakatos Award for his book <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/3059" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Evolution and the Levels of Selection</em></a>, and is a Fellow of the British Academy.</p> <ul> <li><a href="https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/persons/samir-okasha" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">University of Bristol web page</a></li> <li><a href="https://philpeople.org/profiles/samir-okasha" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">PhilPeople profile</a></li> <li><a href="https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=DgX1tEUAAAAJ&amp;hl=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Google Scholar publications</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/stores/Samir-Okasha/author/B001IXTTP0" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Amazon author page</a></li> <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samir_Okasha" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a></li> </ul> <p><br /></p>