KLI Colloquia are invited research talks of about an hour followed by 30 min discussion. The talks are held in English, open to the public, and offered in hybrid format.
Fall-Winter 2025-2026 KLI Colloquium Series
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https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5881861923?omn=85945744831
Meeting ID: 588 186 1923
25 Sept 2025 (Thurs) 3-4:30 PM CET
A Dynamic Canvas Model of Butterfly and Moth Color Patterns
Richard Gawne (Nevada State Museum)
14 Oct 2025 (Tues) 3-4:30 PM CET
Vienna, the Laboratory of Modernity
Richard Cockett (The Economist)
23 Oct 2025 (Thurs) 3-4:30 PM CET
How Darwinian is Darwinian Enough? The Case of Evolution and the Origins of Life
Ludo Schoenmakers (KLI)
6 Nov (Thurs) 3-4:30 PM CET
Common Knowledge Considered as Cause and Effect of Behavioral Modernity
Ronald Planer (University of Wollongong)
20 Nov (Thurs) 3-4:30 PM CET
Rates of Evolution, Time Scaling, and the Decoupling of Micro- and Macroevolution
Thomas Hansen (University of Oslo)
4 Dec (Thurs) 3-4:30 PM CET
Chance, Necessity, and the Evolution of Evolvability
Cristina Villegas (KLI)
8 Jan 2026 (Thurs) 3-4:30 PM CET
Embodied Rationality: Normative and Evolutionary Foundations
Enrico Petracca (KLI)
15 Jan 2026 (Thurs) 3-4:30 PM CET
On Experimental Models of Developmental Plasticity and Evolutionary Novelty
Patricia Beldade (Lisbon University)
29 Jan 2026 (Thurs) 3-4:30 PM CET
Jan Baedke (Ruhr University Bochum)
Event Details

Topic description:
Development and heredity are often explained in terms of genes carrying information, or some kind of code or programme. The idea is that genetic information is crucial for directing development and that parents pass this information on to their offspring. Nearly 20 years ago Sahotra Sarkar argued that this idea is just a metaphor and does not do any real theoretical work. His thesis sparked a debate in philosophy of biology about the nature and legitimacy of information concepts in molecular biology. The debate, still ongoing and not nearing a consensus, is often approached from the point of view of existing philosophical accounts of information and representation (e.g. teleosemantics) and/or technical notions of information (like Shannon’s entropy). I will argue that it is also important to pay close attention to (1) how scientists employ informational concepts in practice and (2) the kinds of causal relations associated with purportedly informational processes. Focusing on these aspects suggests that some information concepts play valuable theoretical roles in virtue of denoting peculiar causal and organizational features of molecular mechanisms, although these features are not semantic in any demanding sense. I thus argue that the most plausible view of the nature and role of genetic information steers a middle course between metaphor views and endowing molecules with semantic properties.
Biographical note:
Ulrich Stegmann studied biology in Germany and the USA and obtained a PhD in zoology. He then moved to the UK for an MA and PhD (2006) in philosophy from King’s College London. As a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow he worked at the University of Cambridge (HPS) and King’s College London. In 2009 he accepted a Lectureship in Philosophy at the University of Aberdeen, where he is now Senior Lecturer. In 2016 he was a Visiting Associate Professor for Philosophy of the Life Sciences at Utrecht University.
Ulrich's research focuses on causation in biology, mechanistic explanation, and the nature of purportedly informational or representational phenomena. Much of his work addresses these issues in the context of molecular biology and animal behaviour studies. The overall goal of his work is a better understanding of biology as it is actually practiced, its fundamental concepts, its ontological commitments, its tools and methods. Some of his work employs historical research to address the philosophical issues at stake.