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External email. 

External email. 

Dear Brian,

I hope this email finds you well. Could you please share the below call for abstracts for a workshop on comparative behavioral biology with members of the "Evolution Directory"?

Thank you in advance for your kind attention to this matter.

Best regards,

Alejandro

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Call for Abstracts:

"Behavior Across the Tree of Life:

Theoretical and Methodological Challenges"

Interdisciplinary Workshop

Raadzaal, Institute of Philosophy, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

Topic: Comparative Behavioral Biology

Dates: 26-27 September 2025

Organizers: Gianmaria Dani, Alejandro Fábregas-Tejeda, and Grant Ramsey
(Institute of Philosophy, KU Leuven)

Deadline: July 14th2025

Notification: July 18th2025

Confirmed Speakers

Kristin Aleklett (Lund University)

Silvia Guerra (University of Padua)

Tobias Starzak (Ruhr University Bochum)

Kirsty Y. Wan (University of Exeter)

Frameworks from animal behavior studies are increasingly being borrowed
and adapted to interpret a wealth of empirical findings in creatures
outside the animal kingdom, such as plants, fungi, and bacteria. These
findings include goal-oriented dynamics, adjustments in growth and
development, and signaling. Collectively, they have complicated our
understanding of what constitutes organismal activity and stretched the
concept of behavior, prompting a reevaluation of how behavior should
be understood and how it can be distinguished from related activities,
such as growth and development.

Even though cross-kingdom comparisons are increasingly employed to frame
and explain the activities of non-animal organisms, the issue of whether
these comparisons are epistemologically and methodologically warranted
remains under explored.

This workshop will explore the theoretical and methodological foundations
of comparative research on behavior across the tree of life and will spell
out some of its challenges.It will convene philosophers and scientists
working on different groups of (putatively) behaving organisms to assess
the status of what could be called 'comparative behavioral biology.'
This comparative approach aims to build systematic knowledge of the
diversity and evolution of behavior across kingdoms and to complement
other branches of comparative biology with much-needed clarifications.

The themes and topics that we will cover include (but are not restricted
to):

I. Can the theoretical and methodological frameworks already developed
   in animal behavior studies be extrapolated to investigate behavior in
   non-metazoan organisms?
II. What concepts and frameworks are useful for laying the groundwork of
    a genuine inter-kingdom comparative behavioral biology?
III. Through which criteria can we individuate behaviors and behavioral
     characters? How projectible are trait individuation criteria across
     taxonomic groups?
IV. What experimental set-ups and methodological considerations do we
    need to take into account for sound inter-kingdom comparisons? Do we
    need one-size-fits-all standards, or can we have different standards
    depending on the particularities of certain taxa?
V. How is comparative behavioral biology situated with respect to
   research in comparative cognition and comparative psychology? What
   are some of its overlaps and points of divergence?

We welcome contributions from theoretical and empirical
researchers philosophers and scientists alike interested in fostering
interdisciplinary dialogues on comparative behavioral biology and its
theoretical and methodological foundations.

We invite submissions of abstracts (max. 500 words, excluding
references). Abstracts must include personal information (affiliation,
contact info). Please send the abstracts to Gianmaria Dani
(gianmaria.dani@kuleuven.be) and Alejandro Fábregas-Tejeda
(alejandro.fabregastejeda@kuleuven.be).  Deadline: July
14th 2025. Notifications of acceptance: July 18th 2025.

For more information, please visit: 
https://hiw.kuleuven.be/clps/events/agenda/workshop-behavior-across-the-tree-of-life-theoretical-and-methodological-challenges

Alejandro Fábregas-Tejeda

Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science,
Institute of Philosophy, KU Leuven
Kardinaal Mercierplein 2 - box 3200
BE-3000 Leuven / Belgium
Email: alejandro.fabregastejeda@kuleuven.be
https://www.alejandrofabregastejeda.com/

Alejandro Fábregas Tejeda <alejandro.fabregastejeda@kuleuven.be>

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