METU 70th Year Faculty Seminars: Title: The Emergence of Interiority, Biomolecular Condensates and the Metaphysics of Nature.
Speaker: Dr. Lenny Moss
Many of the basic assumptions about the ways that the processes of life at the cellular level are
governed and realized have been overturned by empirical findings especially over the last twenty
years and yet little if any effort has been made to question our basic metaphysical assumptions
about life (and nature in general). In this paper, and drawing especially on recent findings
concerning the role of biomolecular condensates in mediating almost every decision point in cellular
life, I will briefly adumbrate the transitions in our metaphysics of life ranging from Kant’s late 18th
century intervention through the “Organicism” of the interwar years and up to the contemporary
Gene-Informational paradigm. Beyond challenging the continued tenability of the latter, I will
suggest a new paradigm, borrowing some inspirations from Hegel and Alfred North Whitehead,
centered on the claim that nature (and not just life) expresses a disposition toward increasing
“interiority” and, time permitting, we will begin to explore its scientific and philosophical
implications.
Dr Lenny Moss is a prominent scholar whose work bridges the gap between philosophy and biology.
He is best known for his critiques of genetic determinism. Dr Moss has a Ph.D. in comparative
biochemistry (UC Berkeley) and a second Ph.D. in philosophy (Northwestern University). He has held
professorships at the University of Notre Dame and the University of Exeter. Dr Moss has authored
the book “What Genes Can’t Do” (MIT Press, 2003), where he argues that scientists identify a Gene-
D (A sequence of DNA as a developmental resource) and then imbue it with the power of a Gene-P
(the ability to "command" a trait into existence). Dr Moss’s research can be described as
"philosophical anthropology," exploring how biological science intersects with our understanding of
human nature and social theory.