This annual event is a graduate student (Zoology and Philosophy) initiative, and is hosted by Green College. This year’s topic is the meaning and role of theory in evolutionary biology. This central question will be asked in the light of recent developments within the field. A group of distinguished philosophers and biologists will be giving their perspectives and engaging in fruitful discussion. Faculty and graduate students interested in the foundations of biology are welcome.
8:15- 8:45 Coffee
8:45 – 9:00 Mark Vessey (Green College ) Sally Otto, (Zoology, University of British Columbia)
Opening Remarks
9:00 – 9:45 Michael Whitlock (Zoology, University of British Columbia)
Simple Assumptions and Complex Reality in Statistical Genetics
9:45 – 10:30 Warren Ewens (Biology, University of Pennsylvania)
Controversies in Population Genetics: the Gene’s Eye View of Evolution and the Relevance of Randomness
10:30 – 11:00 Coffee
11:00 – 11:45 Alirio Rosales (Philosophy, University of British Columbia)
Between Narratives and Equations: Rethinking Fisher and Wright
12:00 – 1:30 Lunch
1:45 – 2:30 Troy Day (Biology and Mathematics, Queens)
A Fundamental Limit to Evolutionary Theory
2:30 – 3:15 Carl Bergstrom (Biology, University of Washington)
The Transmission Sense of Information in Biology
3:15 – 3:45 Coffee
3:45 – 4:30 Robert Bishop (Physics, Wheaton College, IL)
What is a Theory? Comparing Physics and Evolutionary Theory
4:30 – 5:30 Panel Discussion (Wine and Cheese)
