[spsp-members] International Postdoc Forum for the Philosophy of Science: 28 Sept (Wednesday)

[Alan Love]

*28 September 2022, 12:15pm CDT (UTC+5)*
*Rethinking the Nature of Immunity*
Martin Zach (Analytic Philosophy, Czech Academy of Sciences)

*Abstract*: How should we think about immunity? Many immunological writings
suggest an immediate option: the view that the immune system is primarily a
system of defense, which naturally invites the talk of strong immunity and
strong immune response. We argue two things. First, we argue that the
immune system is involved not only in defense. Second, by disentangling
various possible meanings of ‘strength’ and ‘weakness’ in immunology, we
also argue that such a construal of immunity generally contributes to the
distortion of the overall picture of what the immune system is, what it
does, and why it sometimes fails. Instead, we propose to understand the
nature of the immune system in terms of contextuality, regulation, and
trade-offs. We suggest that our approach provides lessons for a general
understanding of the organizing principles of the immune system in health
and disease. For all this to work, we discuss a wide range of immunological
phenomena.

Commentator: Alan C. Love, Philosophy, University of Minnesota

The International Postdoc Forum for the Philosophy of Science
<https://cla.umn.edu/mcps/research-programs/colloquia/international-postdoc-forum>
is organized by the Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science
<https://cla.umn.edu/mcps> (MCPS). It showcases virtual research
presentations from international scholars with commentaries from local MCPS
community members. Presentations are by Zoom webinar. Please join our mailing
list <http://eepurl.com/dj3RlD> or email mcps at umn.edu for a link to attend.
--
Alan C. Love
Winton Chair in the Liberal Arts
<https://cla.umn.edu/news-events/news/alan-love-places-evo-devo-front-and-center>
Distinguished McKnight Professor
<https://scholarswalk.umn.edu/faculty-awards/mcknight-awards/distinguished>
Department of Philosophy & Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science
University of Minnesota
http://umn.edu/~aclove

*New Project!* Agency, Directionality, and Function: Foundations for a
Science of Purpose <https://www.biologicalpurpose.org>
*New Paper!* Reframing research on evolutionary novelty and co-option:
Character identity mechanisms versus deep homology
<https://doi.org/10.1016/j.semcdb.2022.03.030> (open access)
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