Dialectical Systems

We will continue posting here for the time being but will gradually transition to our Bluesky account. We invite you to follow us there to stay updated: bsky.app/profile/dialec…

🔔 IAS Seminar | Upcoming Session 📅 Friday, May 15th · 13:00h 📍 Room 5, Centro Carlos Santamaría Laura Mojica & Ezequiel Di Paolo (UPV/EHU + Ikerbasque) will present: 🧠 Sensorimotor Incorporation: An Operational Definition Everyone welcome! #CognitiveScience #Philosophy

Off year ISH workshop: "Synthesizing Autonomy and New Mechanism in the Philosophy of Biology" dialecticalsystems.eu/events/traditi…

it's happening - my book *Romantic Empiricism* will be out in German in June! Watch out for "Romantischer Empirismus" from Königshausen & Neumann. I'll update with more information as it comes

The dialectical underpinnings of multilevel selection Evolution isn’t flat: new levels arise through conflict and then reshape the very dynamics that brought them into being dialecticalsystems.eu/contributions/…

CFP: Dialectics and Life (Marxism & Sciences, Issue 10) Main topics: organism–environment coupling, critical 4E cognition, social metabolism, dialectical approaches to modeling. Abstracts due 1 June 2026 👉 dialecticalsystems.eu/events/cfp-dia…

📣 Next IAS Seminar | Fri, 20 Feb 2026 🎙️ Marius Werz (IAS Research, UPV/EHU) will present his recent publication: “From function to freedom: enactivism between being and becoming” (Phenom Cogn Sci, 2026). doi.org/10.1007/s11097… #IASSeminar #Enactivism

With the end of this year, Stuart Newman will step down from his role as Editor-in-Chief. We sincerely thank Stuart for his outstanding 10 years of service and dedication to Biological Theory! Read Stuart's Farewell Editorial: link.springer.com/article/10.100…

Extending the evolutionary synthesis isn’t enough Rasmus Haukedal's new book calls for a dialectical biology: from autopoiesis to sympoiesis, from efficient causes to enablement, and an innovative take on plasticity, canalisation & habit. dialecticalsystems.eu/publications/n…

➡️New article out⬅️ Open-Ended Control Versus Closed-Ended Control: Limits of Mechanistic Explanation by Jason Winning Free reading link:rdcu.be/eQ6ym

Enaction meets dialectics New paper out on how sensorimotor agency scales up to social normativity link.springer.com/article/10.100…

Materiality isn’t a backdrop to cognition, but one of its central conditions The upcoming workshop “Habits, Tools, and Material Environments” examines how cognition is socially distributed, ecologically embedded, and enacted through material engagement dialecticalsystems.eu/events/worksho…

40 years after The Dialectical Biologist, Richard Lewontin’s legacy still challenges how we think about life A new report revisits his intertwining of philosophy, biology, and Marxism—and how organisms are subjects of their own evolution dialecticalsystems.eu/contributions/…

We’re excited to announce that the Outonomy book —resulting from one of IAS Research’s major projects— is now out! 🎉 It features contributions from many of our members and is Open Access, available in full or by chapters: 🔗 link.springer.com/book/10.1007/9…

Very nice upcoming workshop at the Center for Philosophical Psychology (University of Antwerp) on how radical embodiment unfolds in complex, “wild” real-world environments. dialecticalsystems.eu/events/worksho…

Marx as a philosophical biologist? Chris Shambaugh on young Marx's account of organismal agency, its relation to human life to the critique of capitalism. dialecticalsystems.eu/publications...

New paper out in @BiolTheory @Leo_Bich and Laura Menatti argue that health is not about balance or stability, but about adapting and transforming in response to changing circumstances — the capacity for adaptive change. link.springer.com/journal/13752

➡️New article out⬅️ The Bechtel Approach to the Scope and Limits of Mechanistic Explanation by Daniel C. Burnston Free reading link: rdcu.be/eLgQT

How did regulation and agency arise before genes? Shirt-Ediss et al. model evolving protocell ecologies with the Araudia platform—showing how simple metabolic systems can “learn” to adapt to changing environments dialecticalsystems.eu/publications/n…

➡️New article out⬅️ Homeostasis and Health: From Balance to Change by Leonardo Bich & Laura Menatti Open access: link.springer.com/article/10.100…

How does life emerge from nonlife? New special issue of the Royal Transactions brings together leading thinkers on the origins of life—where chemistry meets information, and evolution unfolds through the “adjacent possible.” dialecticalsystems.eu/publications/n…