
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


Is there a role for agency in evolution? Do organismal efforts to maintain homeostasis represent a form of biological intentionality? On this episode of Big Biology, we talk with Scott Turner, a physiologist and emeritus professor of Biology from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Scott’s book, Purpose and Desire, discusses how holes in standard evolutionary theory might be productively filled by the concept of homeostasis. Scott argues that by attempting to maintain metabolism and exporting entropy to the environment, organisms manifest a form of agency that can affect the evolution of their lineages. His book and ideas have met with some criticism, and in the show, we confront him about whether his position is subtle intelligent design theory.
By Art Woods, Cameron Ghalambor, and Marty Martin4.6
136136 ratings
Is there a role for agency in evolution? Do organismal efforts to maintain homeostasis represent a form of biological intentionality? On this episode of Big Biology, we talk with Scott Turner, a physiologist and emeritus professor of Biology from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Scott’s book, Purpose and Desire, discusses how holes in standard evolutionary theory might be productively filled by the concept of homeostasis. Scott argues that by attempting to maintain metabolism and exporting entropy to the environment, organisms manifest a form of agency that can affect the evolution of their lineages. His book and ideas have met with some criticism, and in the show, we confront him about whether his position is subtle intelligent design theory.

15,229 Listeners

10,747 Listeners

743 Listeners

2,053 Listeners

756 Listeners

945 Listeners

544 Listeners

12,130 Listeners

818 Listeners

331 Listeners

363 Listeners

4,167 Listeners

506 Listeners

116 Listeners

497 Listeners