Philosophy of biology

Philosophy of biology is the branch of philosophy of science that deals with biological knowledge. It can be practiced not only by philosophers, but also by scientists who reflect on their own work. The distinctive mark of philosophy of biology is the effort to achieve generalizations about biology, up to various degrees. For instance, philosophy of biology makes biology relevant to classic issues in philosophy of science such as causation and explanation, chance, progress, history, and reductionism. It also works to characterize how knowledge is acquired and modified in different areas of biology, and sometimes to clarify the criteria that demarcate science from non-science. Philosophy also performs constructive criticism of biology. For example, it has an important role in analyzing cases of “naturalization”—when science becomes able to study issues that traditionally were the exclusive domain of philosophy. The life sciences and their objects are changing and growing exponentially. A challenge for philosophy of biology is thus to keep the pace, not only with new knowledge modifying long-standing ideas (for example, the “Tree of Life”), but also with new scientific practices and unprecedented kinds of data. Accordingly, philosophy of biology is constantly provoked in shifting its own methods and attention. In some cases, philosophy of biology can aid the life sciences to reach their goals, by means of conceptual analysis, linguistic analysis, and epistemological analysis. Hybridizations and intersections between scientific fields are particularly conducive to philosophical considerations. Contemporary examples are ‘EvoDevo’ (the recent integration between development and evolution) and ‘cultural evolution’ (an approach to cultural change inspired by evolutionary biology). Theses and analyses of philosophy of biology are often entwined with history of biology and with the history of evolution. Finally, philosophy of biology can elaborate messages and general views out of biology, and has a crucial role in caring for how science is publicly interrogated and communicated