About

My research in philosophy of biology and related domains attempts to understand scientific practice and concept use from a methodological, epistemological, and semantic point of view. This includes investigating the change and diversity of scientific practices, as well as critically scrutinizing the intersection of science and society based on environmental and social values.

I am particularly interested in evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo), molecular biology, systems biology, cognitive science, and (most recently) neuropsychiatry.

My detailed personal website.

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Teaching

Winter 2024 (Tuesday Thursday 12:30–1:50pm)

PHIL 415 (Topics in Philosophy of Biology) / PHIL 510 (Philosophy of Science) – The Neuroscience of Human Diversity

This seminar takes a look at different scientific approaches to the study of human difference and diversity. Given our focus on neuroscientific, psychological, and behavioural research, we address issues at the intersection of nature and nurture. Although research on alleged cognitive differences between different races has fortunately been largely abandoned, research on sex and gender based neuroscientific and cognitive differences is thriving. We will also take a brief look at research on sexual orientation. A major focus of the seminar will be on different methodological and explanatory approaches, some of which are more after finding essential or binary differences, while others are open to understanding human diversity. For example, there are mainstream approaches in biology, including evolutionary biology, that have gone beyond any nature-nurture dichotomy (or the idea of human nature) and view neuroscientific diversity as also being due to socialization. But there is also evolutionary psychology as well as pop science books on gender differences being hard-wired into our brains. We will also discuss whether social-political values such as equity can have a legitimate role to play in the design of research, the formulation of explanatory frameworks, and the communication of scientific results.

Previous syllabus

PHIL 415 - Topics in Philosophy of Biology

Prerequisite: At least *6 in PHIL, *3 of which must be at the 200-level, or consent of the Department.

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PHIL 510 - Philosophy of Science

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PHIL 596 - Directed Reading I

Prerequisite: Open only to graduate students beyond the qualifying year.

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Browse more courses taught by Ingo Brigandt

Journal of Morphology. 2023 May;

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Ingo Brigandt

Canadian Journal of Philosophy. 2022 January; 52 (356–379)

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Ingo Brigandt

Evolution & Development. 2020 January; 22

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Ingo Brigandt and Esther Rosario

2020 January; Conceptual Engineering and Conceptual Ethics. A. Burgess, H. Cappelen, and D. Plunkett (eds), Oxford University Press

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Ingo Brigandt

Philosophy of Science. 2018 January; 85

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Sara Green, Maria Şerban, Raphael Scholl, Nicholaos Jones, Ingo Brigandt, and William Bechtel

Synthese. 2018 January; 195

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Ingo Brigandt

Science & Education. 2016 January; 25

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Ingo Brigandt

Canadian Journal of Philosophy. 2015 January; 45

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Ingo Brigandt

The Philosophy of Biology: A Companion for Educators. K. Kampourakis (ed), Springer. 2013 January;

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Ingo Brigandt

Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences. 2013 January; 44

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Ingo Brigandt, Alan C. Love

Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution. 2012 January; 318

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Ingo Brigandt

Erkenntnis. 2010 January; 73

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Ingo Brigandt

Synthese. 2010 January; 177

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