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.

Meet our speakers and chair

Philip Ball (@philipcball) is a science writer and Editor of Nature.

Vanessa Seifert (@seifert_vanessa) is Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Bristol.

Jessica Wilson is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto.

Clare Moriarty (@quiteclare) is a Fellow at the Forum for Philosophy and IRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Trinity College Dublin.

More about this event

The Forum for Philosophy (@forumphilosophy) hosts events exploring science, politics, and culture from a philosophical perspective.

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A podcast of this event is available to download from A Theory of Everything?

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