What is The Split-Body Problem? Rethinking Our Understanding of How Life Reproduces

Dr Gunnar Babcock is a lecturer in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. He was a Postdoctoral Associate in the Department of Biology at Duke University. He received his Doctorate in Philosophy from the University at Albany, SUNY. His research is primarily in the philosophy of science/biology. It focuses on topics like biological individuality, species, and both modern and historical accounts of teleology. Much of his work aims to develop a new approach to understanding goal directed systems called field theory. He is also involved in the project “Does Earth’s habitability for life exist due to or in spite of Darwinian evolution by natural selection?” His other research considers developments in synthetic biology, the scope of selective processes, and how biotechnologies sometimes help reveal the metaphysical underpinnings of concepts like reproduction, species, lineages, and life generally. His broader philosophical interests extend to ethics in life sciences, history and philosophy of science, and ancient philosophy.