On Purpose Conference

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DAY 1  

(Sunday, May 5th) 

 

8:00-8:30am 

Breakfast (at conference venue, Sanford Building #223) 

 

8:30am-9:00am 

Welcome (Dan McShea & Gunnar Babcock) 

 

9:00am-9:45am 

“Proper Functions in Society: Selectionist Arguments in Sociology” 

Andrés Casto Araujo (Sociology, Duke University) 

 

9:45am-10:30am 

“Do opaque algorithms have functions?” 

Clint Hurshman (Philosophy, University of Kansas) 

 

10:30am-10:45 

Coffee Break 

 

10:45am-11:30am 

“Quasi-Naturalistic Teleology in Aristotle’s Biology” 

Mo Zhao (Philosophy, University of Bonn) 

 

11:30am-12:15pm 

“How to be a Teleologist: Comparisons of Teleological Explanations in the History & 

Philosophy of Biology & Cosmology” 

Nichole Levesley (History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge)  

 

12:15pm-1:15pm 

Lunch 

 

1:15pm-2:00pm 

“Keeping the Telos in Teleology: A Pragmatist Suggestion” 

Niall Roe (History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge) 

 

2:00pm-3:15pm 

“Did Darwin make purpose safe for science, or banish it from nature?” 

Alex Rosenberg (Philosophy, Duke University) 

 

3:15pm-3:30pm 

Coffee Break 

 

3:30pm-4:45pm 

“Nature as a Craftsman in Aristotle’s Teleology”  

Mariska Leunissen (Philosophy, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill) 

 

4:45pm-5:15 

Writing Exercise  

 

6:30pm 

Dinner  

 

DAY 2  

(Monday, May 6th) 

 

8:00am-8:30am 

Breakfast (at conference venue, Sanford Building #223) 

 

8:30am-8:45am  

Welcome (Dan McShea & Gunnar Babcock) 

 

8:45am-9:30am 

“Teleological Development and Synergistic Information” 

Tiago Rama (Philosophy, University of the Republic of Uruguay) *remote presentation 

 

9:30am-10:15am 

“A normative challenge for evolution-based moral realisms” 

Jonah Branding (Philosophy & Biology, Michigan State University) & Matt Ferkany (Philosophy, Michigan State University)  

 

10:15am-10:30am 

Coffee Break 

 

10:30am-11:15am 

“Toward a Descriptive Psychological Theory of Meaning and Purpose” 

Jonathan Iwry (Harvard Law School) 

 

11:15am-12:00pm 

“Making Sense of Agency” 

Cassandra Williams (Philosophy, University of Toronto) 

 

12:00pm-1:00pm 

Lunch 

 

1:00pm-1:45pm 

“The Human Affectome: A teleological framework of affective phenomena” 

Alessandra Yu (Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai), Daniela Schiller (Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai) & Leroy Lowe (Neuroqualia)  

 

1:45pm-3:00pm 

“A Guide to the Problems of Teleology in Biology” 

Robert Brandon (Philosophy, Duke University) 

 

3:00pm-3:15pm 

Coffee Break 

 

3:15pm-4:30pm 

“Desire and Prediction” 

Kent Berridge (Psychology/Neuroscience, University of Michigan) 

 

4:30pm-5:00 

Writing Exercise  

 

6:30pm 

Dinner  

 

DAY 3  

(Tuesday, May 7th) 

 

9:00am-9:45am 

Breakfast (at conference venue) 

 

9:45am-11:00am 

“Novel goals, diverse intelligences: the biomedical impact of philosophical frameworks” 

Michael Levin (Biology, Tufts University) *remote presentation 

 

11:00am-12:00pm 

Workshop: On purpose 

Dan McShea (Biology, Duke University) & Gunnar Babcock (Biology, Duke University) 

 

12:00pm-1:00pm 

Lunch 

 

1:00pm-3:00pm 

(continued) Workshop: On purpose 

Dan McShea (Biology, Duke University) & Gunnar Babcock (Biology, Duke University) 

 

 

Contact

Gunnar Babcock