A Process Ontology for Contemporary Biology (PROBIO)

Egenis: Centre for the Study of Life Sciences is looking for two postdocs to work on its new project of "A Process Ontology for Contemporary Biology."  Applications are due by October 2014.  More information HERE.

This ERC-funded project aims, first, to rethink central issues in the philosophy of biology by elaborating an ontology for biology that takes full account of the processual nature of living systems. Starting with a careful survey of existing positions, especially Whitehead and the American Pragmatists, the goal will be to develop a concept of process adequate for addressing the multiple levels of interacting processes at different time scales characteristic of living systems. The concept of a stable biological thing will be analysed as a stabilised process relative to an appropriate time scale, and this conception should make possible a better understanding of familiar biological pluralisms (about genes, organisms, species, etc..) in terms of different ways in which distinct scientific practices intersect with biological processes.