Philip Ball/ Vanessa Seifert/ Jessica Wilson

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The biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky wrote that nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution. Is there an even more general theory that can make sense of all the sciences? The various scientific disciplines each have their own methods, theories, and practices. This is the case even when different sciences try to explain the same phenomena. Can we translate between these distinct disciplines? What does this even mean? Might all of science be reduced to physics one day? Our panel discuss reduction, emergence, and the unity of the sciences.

Speakers
Philip Ball
Science Writer and Editor, Nature
Vanessa Seifert
Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Bristol
Jessica Wilson
Professor of Philosophy, University of Toronto

Chair
Clare Moriarty
Fellow, Forum for Philosophy & IRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Trinity College Dublin

Co-sponsored by the ERC-funded MetaScience project

Recorded on 23 March 2021

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