Exploring the Evolutionary History of Mental Representations and Agency

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This chapter delves into the evolutionary history of mental representations and agency, discussing the development of a rudimentary nervous system as a significant threshold for organisms to process environmental signals and respond adaptively. It touches on the unique methodology of philosopher and geneticist Eva Yablanca in exploring consciousness through learning potential and associative abilities. The discussion also contemplates the philosophical perspectives on the level of agency in artificial intelligence, pondering on the nature of intelligence, thinking, and the challenges of creating machines with true agency.

Just like with physics, in biology it is perfectly possible to do most respectable work without thinking much about philosophy, but there are unmistakably foundational questions where philosophy becomes crucial. When do we say that a collection of matter (or bits) is alive? When does it become an agent, capable of making decisions? What are the origins of morality and altruistic behavior? We talk with one of the world's leading experts, Samir Okasha, about the biggest issues in modern philosophy of biology.

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Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/07/01/281-samir-okasha-on-the-philosophy-of-agency-and-evolution/

Samir Okasha received his D.Phil. in Philosophy from the University of Oxford. He is currently Professor of the Philosophy of Science at the University of Bristol. He is a winner of the Lakatos Award for his book Evolution and the Levels of Selection, and is a Fellow of the British Academy.

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