This paper was nine (!) years in the making, beginning as a side project about methodological disputes in philosophy of science before becoming a committed attempt to engage in a historically rich vein of conceptual theory in biology. It ended up at almost 19K words (!!).

*Or rather referred to organicist ideas as 'vitalism.'

Pushback against the organicists in mainstream philosophy of science, especially by Ernest Nagel and his student Morton Beckner, was harsh. They dismissed organization as an unspecified concept that promoted conviction over rational argument. Others like Hempel ignored organicism entirely*

More information and updates on the lecture course will be provided by following @veniceevodevo.bsky.social as well as from the instructors (including myself!) and the organizers -- The deadline for applications is 31 March, 2025!

The course will tackle questions like how levels originate and integrate in development and evolution, what interactions exist between levels, how to measure and manipulate biological systems across multiple scales, and how to model feedback across different levels.

The venue is in Venice, Italy, and the meeting spans the whole week from 17 – 22 August 2025. Speaking from experience, these meetings are a excellent source for enduring and dynamic dialogues. This year the meeting will be feature levels of organization in #devbio, #evodevo, #evobio, and others!