Department of Philosophy • Green College • Department of Zoology
University of British Columbia

First Annual Interdisciplinary Workshop on the Historical, Philosophical & Conceptual Foundations of Evolutionary Theory

Green College, Coach House (map)
Monday, November 3, 2008

Evolution and the Levels of Selection: Themes and Counter-Themes
(Link to the poster)

8:15 – 8:45 Coffee

8:45 Opening Remarks John Beatty (Philosophy, UBC)

9:00 – 9:45 Samir Okasha (Philosophy, Bristol)
Individuals, Groups, Fitness and Utility: Levels of Selection Meets Social Choice Theory

9:45 – 10:30 Sally Otto (Zoology, UBC)
A Modifier Approach to Bridging Individual and Group Selection

10:30 – 11:00 Coffee Break

11:00 – 11:45 Jeff Fletcher (Systems Science, Portland State)
A Simple and General Explanation for the Evolution of Altruism

11:45 – 12:15 Peter Godfrey-Smith (Philosophy, Harvard)
Selection in Ephemeral Networks

12:30 – 1:25 Lunch

1: 30 – 2:00 Sean Rice (Biology, Texas Tech)
Stochastic Multilevel Selection and the Meaning of Fitness

2:15 – 3:00 Leticia Aviles (Zoology, UBC)
Principles of Multilevel Selection – From Cellular Slime Molds to Social Spiders

3:00 – 3:30 Coffee Break 

3:30 – 4:15 Christopher Stephens (Philosophy, UBC)
Multilevel Selection and Strong Reciprocity

4:15 – 5:00 Ben Kerr (Biology, Washington)
Gestalt-Switching, Pluralism, and Causality in the Levels of Selection Debate

5:00 – 7:00 Reception

Sponsored by the UBC Department of Philosophy, the Department of Zoology, Green College, the Biodiversity Research Centre, the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, and the Dean of the Faculty of Science.

For more information please contact:
John Beatty (UBC)
Alirio Rosales (UBC)