Can't see the colony for the bees: behavioural perspectives of biological individuality

2019 ◽  
Vol 94 (6) ◽  
pp. 1935-1946 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jules Smith‐Ferguson ◽  
Madeleine Beekman
Keyword(s):  
Biological Individuality

scholarly journals Broadening the problem agenda of biological individuality: individual differences, uniqueness and temporality

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie I. Kaiser ◽  
Rose Trappes
Keyword(s):  
Biological Sciences ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Research Group ◽  
Interdisciplinary Research ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Biological Individuality ◽  
Problem Agenda

AbstractBiological individuality is a notoriously thorny topic for biologists and philosophers of biology. In this paper we argue that biological individuality presents multiple, interconnected questions for biologists and philosophers that together form a problem agenda. Using a case study of an interdisciplinary research group in ecology, behavioral and evolutionary biology, we claim that a debate on biological individuality that seeks to account for diverse practices in the biological sciences should be broadened to include and give prominence to questions about uniqueness and temporality. We show that broadening the problem agenda of biological individuality draws attention to underrecognized philosophical issues and discussions and thereby organizes and enriches the existing debate.

scholarly journals The many faces of biological individuality

2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 761-773 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Pradeu
Keyword(s):  
Biological Individuality ◽  
The Many

Biological Individuality of Man

1974 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Jelleff Carr ◽  
Kenneth D. Fisher ◽  
John M. Talbot
Keyword(s):  
Biological Individuality

Biological individuality and disease

1993 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 219-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. R. Burgio
Keyword(s):  
Biological Individuality

Symbiosis, Transient Biological Individuality, and Evolutionary Processes

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frédéric Bouchard
Keyword(s):  
Biological Individuality ◽  
Evolutionary Processes ◽  
Paradigm Case ◽  
Temporal Scales ◽  
Biological Ontology ◽  
Symbiosis Research ◽  
New Research

Whereas individual organisms have acted as the paradigm case to make us think about biological individuality, multi-organism assemblages such as colonies and communities force us to reconsider how biological individuality can emerge. Symbiosis research has given philosophers of biology tools for rethinking the nature of biological individuality. This chapter discusses how the adaptations linked to symbiotic communities highlight a new research dilemma: should we think of a biological ontology focused on individuals and their traits (even if this means positing non-orthodox individuals with non-standard properties)? Or should we move beyond individuals and focus instead on intersecting evolutionary processes? While reasons are offered to favour the former option, it is explained why this dilemma highlights the question of the different temporal scales at which evolution occurs and how this forces us to consider the transient and intermittent biological individuals generated by evolution, as well as the significance of the processes that generate them.

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