Conferences by Thomas Pradeu

Conferences/Workshops organized or co-organized in 2020

February 12-13: “BIOLOGIE, HISTOIRE ET PHILOSOPHIE Journées en l’honneur de Michel Morange”, Panthéon-Sorbonne University,  Paris, France. (Co-organizers: Denis Forest, Laurent Loison, Maël Lemoine, Thomas Pradeu, Stéphane Tirard).

January 20-21: Philosophy of Cancer Conference, 50 participants, Bordeaux, France (2020) (Co-organizers: Sara Green, Lucie Laplane, Maël Lemoine, Thomas Pradeu)

Main talks in 2020

February 19: Invited speaker, University College London, UK: “Who Are We? Key Lessons of Immunology on Biological Individuality”

February 25: Invited speaker, INSA Lyon, France: “Host-symbiont interactions in the development of organisms across phyla: Heterogeneous individuality and the unifying role of the immune system”

February 28: Invited speaker, Ecole normale supérieure de Paris: “Philosophy “in” science: How philosophers can infiltrate science, with an example from immunology”

Conferences/Workshops organized or co-organized in 2019

October 3-5, 2018: The Definitions of Humanity, Bordeaux & Les Eyzies, France

March 26, 2019: Cancer and the Tumor Microenvironment: Development, Evolution, and the Microbiota, Bordeaux, France. Speakers: Ezio Laconi (Cagliari, Italy), Jean-François Moreau (Bordeaux), Thomas Pradeu (Bordeaux), Elena Rondeau (Bordeaux), Christine Varon (Bordeaux).

Main talks in 2019

December 3-6, 2019: Plenary speaker at the 19th meeting of the Société française de Transplantation, Bordeaux, France: “Transplantation et individualité : à l’interface entre immunologie et philosophie”

November 12-14, 2019: Plenary speaker at the 52nd Annual meeting of the French Society for Immunology, Nantes, France: “A philosophical approach to the immune system”

October 21-25, 2019: Jacques Monod Conference (CNRS) on “Virus evolution on the mutualist-parasite continuum”, Roscoff, France. Plenary speaker: “he dialogue between mutualistic viruses and the immune system”.

September 10-14, 2019, Meeting of the European Philosophy of Science Association, Geneva, Switzerland. Organizer of selected symposium on “Philosophy in Science: Can Philosophers Contribute to Science, and If So, How?”. Talk: Maël Lemoine & Thomas Pradeu: “Philosophy in Science: Definition and Boundaries”. Other speakers: Lucie Laplane (Paris), Tim Lewens (HPS Cambridge), and Ralph Adolphs (Caltech).

July 7-12, 2019, Meeting of the ISHPSSB, Oslo, Norway. Organizer of selected symposium on “Philosophy in biology and medicine: The microbiota and biological individuality (double session). Talk: “Immunity and host-microbiota integration”. Other speakers:Wiebke Bretting (Bordeaux), Rob Knight (UC San Diego, USA), Gregor Greslehner (Bordeaux), Silvia Bulgheresi (University of Vienna, Austria), John Huss (The University of Akron, USA).

April 17, 2019: Invited speaker at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Berlin (Wiko): “Defining the organism: lessons from immunology”

Talks in 2018

December 5, 2018: “Approches conceptuelles en immunologie : individualité et explication de la réponse immunitaire”, Conférence plénière du Congrès de la Société francophone de transplantation, Toulouse, France.

November 15-16, 2018: “Identity, Substance, and Processes: A Biological Viewpoint”, Identity Workshop (Full program), Granada, Spain.

November 8, 2018: “Que devient notre individualité face aux recherches actuelles sur le microbiote?”, Assosciences Midi-Pyrénées, Toulouse, France.

September 10-14, 2018: “A Plea for Philosophy in Science”, Fifth European Advanced School in the Philosophy of the Life Sciences (EASPLS): “Interdisciplinarity in the life sciences and their philosophy”, Konrad Lorenz institute for Evolution and Cognition Research (KLI), Klosterneuburg (Austria). Directors: Sabina Leonelli (Exeter) & Thomas Reydon (Hannover).

September 10, 2018: “The Microbiome, the Immune System, and Individuality: A Philosophical Examination”, University of Vienna (Medical campus), Austria.

July 9-14, 2018: EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF) Meeting, session on “When Science Meets History and Philosophy of Science“ (organized by Lucie Laplane), with Paul Griffiths (Sydney), Lucie Laplane (IHPST & Gustave Roussy), Kate MacCord (MBL, Woods Hole), and Thomas Pradeu. Centre Pierre Baudis, Toulouse, France.

July 5, 2018: “Individualité, auto-immunité et théorie de la discontinuité”, 1ère journée du Centre de Référence des Maladies Auto-Immunes Systémiques Rares de l’Est et du Sud-Ouest, Cité du Vin, Bordeaux.

June 28-29, 2018: “Microbiome: The Second Immune System”, International Symposium “Microbiome and Human Evolution: Microbiology Meets Anthropology”, Paris, Collège de France, organized by Philippe Sansonetti.June 18, 2018: “Pourquoi passer de la Philosophie de la biologie à la Philosophie dans la biologie?”, Philosophy of Biology Seminar (Philbio), IHPST, Paris.

June 8, 2018: “The Discontinuity Theory of Immunity”, International Gamma-delta Conference, Bordeaux.

June 6, 2018: “The indispensable dialogue between science and philosophy: The case of  immunology and individuality”, AMGEN Scholars Program, Institut Pasteur, Paris.

May 24, 2018: “Why Science needs Philosophy: One example of a dialogue between immunology and philosophy”, XII PhD Students’ Meeting, Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Lisbon, Portugal.

February 6, 2018: “La philosophie dans la biologie: De quelques défis de l’interdisciplinarité”, Université Bordeaux-Montaigne, Séminaire Sciences & Société.

February 2, 2018: A. Guay & T. Pradeu “To be continued: the genidentity of physical and biological processes”, Entretiens HPS de Paris-Diderot, Paris (invitation: Nadine de Courtenay).

February 2, 2018: “Individu, identité, auto-immunité”, Auto-ImmunoSEM (autoimmunity seminar), Paris.

January 24, 2018: “How can philosophy contribute to science? The example of immunology and individuality”, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Sorbonne Univ., Developmental Biology Lab.

January 23, 2018: “Situating Metaphysics of Science”, Grounding and Reduction Workshop around Tuomas E. Tahko (organized by Jean-Baptiste Rauzy), Paris-Sorbonne University.

January 11, 2018: “Immunology and Individuality: A Philosophical Examination”, Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif. Invitation: Lucie Laplane.

Conferences/Workshops organized or co-organized in 2018

October 15-17, 2018, Philosophy of Cancer Biology Workshop, PUSG, University of Bordeaux, France. Organized by Sara Green, Lucie Laplane, Maël Lemoine, Thomas Pradeu, and Elena Rondeau, and funded by Thomas Pradeu’s ERC-funded project IDEM.

June 19, 2018, Robustness Workshop, Pey-Berland, University of Bordeaux, France:

Fridolin Gross: “Robust mechanisms or mechanisms of robustness?”

Marie-Elise Truchetet & Thomas Pradeu: “Re-thinking our understanding of immunity: Robustness in the tissue reconstruction system”

Jonathan Sholl: “Physiological robustness”

Paul Griffiths: Beyond canalisation: robustness in developmental systems

Elena Rondeau: “Understanding cancer progression and its control: the (im)balance between tissue construction, destruction and reconstruction?”

Jan Pieter Konsman: “Central components of the systemic inflammatory response confer robustness to the infected host through functionally redundant regulatory processes”

Chaired by Maël Lemoine.

March 19, 2018: co-organizer of the workshop “Key Concepts in Neuroimmunology, a dialogue between Philosophers and Scientists”, University of Bordeaux, Centre de Génomique Fonctionnelle, France.

March 21-22, 2018: co-organizer of a two-day seminar on Causality in the Sciences, Chateau Sentout, Bordeaux, France. Plenary speaker: Federica Russo.

May 22, 2018: co-organizer of international workshop on “P value and causality”, with Tyler VanderWeele, Departments of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, USA and Jon Williamson, University of Kent (UK), ISPED, Bordeaux, France.

• October 26, 2017, Séminaire des “Jeudis de l’Histoire et de la Philosophie des Sciences”, Ecole normale supérieure de Paris-Ulm: “La philosophie peut-elle vraiment être utile à la science? Invited by Michel Morange. October 10-11, 2017, First Bordeaux-Geneva Workshop, Geneva, Switzerland: “Why is immunology essential to biological individuality?” Workshop organized by Marcel Weber and Derek Skillings.

• November 23, 2017, U. Bordeaux, Centre de Génomique fonctionnelle: Alberto Mantovani (Humanitas Clinical and Research Center;  Humanitas University, Rozzano (Milan), Italy): “Inflammation, immunity and cancer: from bench to bedside“, organized by T. Pradeu.

• November 20-21, 2017, Third Bordeaux-San Sebastian Workshop in Philosophy of Biology, Bidart, France, co-organized by Leonardo Bich, Arantza Etxeberria & Thomas Pradeu.

• September 21, 2017, U. Bordeaux, ISPED Amphitheater: Mina Bissell (Berkeley, USA): “Why Don’t We Get More Cancer: The tales of ECM and p53 signaling”, organized by T. Pradeu.

• May 17, 2017, NeuroFrance, Bordeaux, France. Duhem Lectures of the Société de philosophie des sciences (SPS): “Dialogue between a philosopher and a neuroscientist: What will/should a neuroscience of emotion look like?”, with Ralph Adolphs (Caltech) and Daniel Andler (Paris-Sorbonne & ENS), organized by T. Pradeu.April 10-11, 2017, Second Bordeaux-San Sebastian Workshop in Philosophy of Biology, Pey-Berland, Bordeaux, France. Workshop topic: “Biological Identity: Robustness, Organisation, and the Microbiota”. Organized by Leonardo Bich; Arantza Etxeberria & Thomas Pradeu.

In 2016:

• December 13, 2016, La Victoire, Bordeaux, France: Journée Plantes & Philosophie, co-organisée par Sophie Gerber (INRA) et Thomas Pradeu (CNRS).

• December 1st, 2016, Journées francophones de nutrition (Nov30-Dec2), Corum, Montpellier, France: “Comment la connaissance du microbiote modifie-t-elle la connaissance de l’individu?” Plenary speaker. Programme complet.

• October 20-21, 2016, San Sebastian, Spain, First Bordeaux-San Sebastian Workshop in Philosophy of Biology: “The immune system and the unification of the organism”.

• October 13-14, 2016, Montpellier, Congrès annuel de la Société d’Hématologie et d’Immunologie Pédiatrique: “La théorie immunologique de la discontinuité face au défi du microbiote”, invited by Nizar Mahlaoui.

• September 26, 2016, Campus IFOM-IEO, Milan, Italy: “What is an Individual? Immunology, the Microbiota, and the Discontinuity Theory”. Invited by Maria Rescigno & Mattia Andreoletti.

• September 16, 2016, Université de Bordeaux, France: co-organizer, with Lucie Laplane, of the international workshop “Cancer & Evolution“. 7 speakers. Talk on “Immunoediting & Cancer Evolution”, in collaboration with Dorothée Duluc.

• June 29-July 1st, 2016, 6th Meeting of the Societé de philosophie des sciences, Lausanne, Switzerland: “Ch-ch-changes: diachronic identity and the immune system as a sensor of change (A tribute to David Bowie)”.

• June 14-16, 2016, Université de Bordeaux, France: co-organizer, with Lynn Chiu, of the international workshop “30 Years After The Dialectical Biologist: New Frontiers In Eco-Devo And Microbiota-Host Co-Construction“. 15 speakers. Talk on “The Dialectics of Host-Microbe Interactions.”

• June 2-3, 2016, Institute of Philosophy, University of London, UK: “Animalism & Identity: Confronting the Biological Approach with Biology” (in collaboration with Adam Ferner), invited by Anne Sophie Meincke (Exeter) & John Dupré (Exeter), international conference “Biological Identity“, 14 speakers.

• April 28, 2016: Paris, France, IHPST: co-organizer, with Lucie Laplane, of the international workshop “Philosophy & Cancer“. 10 speakers.

• April 13, 2016: Institut Pasteur, Paris, France, invited by Pedro Hernandez: “Are we all ecosystems? Host-symbiont interactions, development, and immunity”. Video of the talk.April 7, 2016: Bordeaux, Institut de Chimie & Biologie des Membranes & des Nano-objets (CBMN): “Are We All Microorganisms? Ecosystemic individuality & the unifying role of the immune system” (Annual scientific meeting of the CBMN), invited by Véronique Trézéguet.

• March 30, 2016, Université de Perpignan: “The applicability of the discontinuity theory of immunity to plants and invertebrates”, invitation Benjamin Gourbal, International workshop “Innate immune memory in invertebrates“. 9 speakers.

• March 25, 2016, Oncopôle, Toulouse, France: “Thérapeutique et cancer : une approche philosophique “. Cancer Research Center of Toulouse. Invited by Mary Poupot.

• March 18, 2016, Fédération de Recherche en Biologie de Toulouse: “Host-symbiont interactions in the development of organisms across phyla:Ecosystemic individuality & the unifying role of the immune system”. Invited by Olivier Neyrolles.

• Feb 5, 2016: Dijon, France, UMR Biogéosciences, invitation Thierry Rigaud: “Host-symbiont interactions in the development of organisms across phyla:  Ecosystemic individuality and the unifying role of the immune system”.

• Jan 28, 2016: Munich, LMU, Institute for Immunology, Germany, invitation Reinhardt Obst: “The discontinuity theory of immunity: A philosopher’s view on the dynamics of the immune system”.

• Jan 15, 2016: INRA Jouy-en-Josas, MICALIS (microbiota group), France, invitation Muriel Thomas: “Host-symbiont interactions in the development of organisms across phyla:  Ecosystemic individuality and the unifying role of the immune system”.

In 2015:

• December 16-18, 2015: New Trends in the Metaphysics of Sciences, Paris, France. Organized by Max Kistler and Emile Thalabard. Talk Alexandre Guay and Thomas Pradeu, “Situating Metaphysics of Science”.

• November 19-20, 2015: Symbiosis meeting, Egenis, Exeter, UK: “Host-symbiont interactions in the development of organisms across phyla:  Ecosystemic individuality and the unifying role of the immune system”.

• November 5-6, 2015: Journées Cancéropôle du Grand Sud-Ouest, Bordeaux : “Thérapeutique et cancer, une approche philosophique.”September 23-26, 2015: Meeting of the European Philosophy of Science Association (EPSA), Düsseldorf, Germany. Alexandre Guay and Thomas Pradeu, “Situating Metaphysics of Science: Back to Square One.” Part of the session “Science within metaphysics and metaphysics within science: Articulating the relationship between metaphysics of science and traditional metaphysics.” Speakers: Helen Beebee, Steven French, Alyssa Ney, Alexandre Guay & Thomas Pradeu.

• September 8, 2015: “Indibio” program (Individual in biology), Villefranche-sur-Mer, Workshop “Individuality and immortality: Lessons from organisms with complex life cycles“, Sorbonne Universités, organized by Lucas Leclere: “Host-symbiont interactions in the development of organisms across phyla:  Ecosystemic individuality and the unifying role of the immune system”.

• September 10, 2015: VIROTEAM, Marseille, France: “Sommes-nous tous des micro-organismes?”

• July 5-10, 2015: organizer of the session “Ecological Approaches to Organismal Development”, Meeting of the ISHPSSB, Montreal, Canada.

Participants: Ehab Abouheif (McGill University), Scott Gilbert (Swarthmore College, USA & University of Helsinki), Thomas Pradeu (CNRS & University of Bordeaux), and Karine Prévot (Paris-Ouest Nanterre University). This session is organized in coordination with the session “Physical Science Approaches to Organismal Development” (co-organized by Alan Love and Bill Wimsatt; Participants: Karl Niklas (Cornell University), Robert Batterman (University of Pittsburgh), Alan C. Love (University of Minnesota), Laura Nilson (McGill University)), under the general heading “Alternative Explanatory Approaches to Organismal Development“.

• June 16-17, 2015: co-organizer (with Adam Ferner) of the international conference “Organic Individuals”, Paris-Sorbonne University, Amphi. Guizot.

• June 1, 2015: Disputatio avec Francis Wolff, Lundis de la Philosophie, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France.

• May 26, 2015: “Reproduction et évolution des communautés symbiotiques”, Centre François Viète, Université de Nantes, à l’invitation de Stéphane Tirard, Séminaire “Réplication et reproduction en biologie contemporaine : les enjeux”.

• May 19, 2015: Exposé Rectorat Académie de Rouen, destiné aux professeurs de SVT de l’Académie : Identité et tolérance en immunologie (Identity and Tolerance in Immunology).

• May 11, 2015: “E Pluribus Unum: What Makes Our Biological Identity?”, Retreat Interdisciplinary Institute of Neuroscience-BIC, Lacanau, France.

• April 24, 2015: “E Pluribus Unum: What Makes Our Biological Identity?“, Night of Philosophy, New York, USA.

• March 24, 2015: “Vers une approche écologique de l’organisme”, Réseau Ecologie et Interactions Durables (REID), Lyon, France.

• March 19, 2015: “Entre gènes et environnement : Expliquer le développement biologique”, CIRID, Bordeaux University.

In 2014:

• December 8, 2014: Individu biologique, Club PhilBioMed, IHPST, Paris. Debate with Philippe Huneman and Matteo Mossio.

• December 4, 2014: “L’organisme est-il un individu ou une communauté?”. Colloque de la FR “TransBioMed” (Bordeaux).

• November 20-21, 2014: Process Philosophy of Biology, Egenis, University of Exeter, UK. Organized by John Dupré and Dan Nicholson. ERC Project PROBIO. Title of my talk: ‘Genidentity and Biological Processes’.

• November 6-9, 2014: Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association (PSA), Chicago, IL, USA. Chairing of a session organized by Maureen O’Malley on ‘Complex Life Cycles, Reproduction and Evolution’, with Peter Godfrey-Smith, Matthew Herron, Maureen O’Malley and James Griesemer.

• November 3, 2014: talk (in French) in the Paris 2nd-year Master Program in Immunology, Paris-Diderot University, France (invited by Mireille Viguier): ‘Quelle théorie pour l’immunologie?’

• October 24, 2014: talk (in French) at the Institut Jacques Monod (invited by Giuseppe Baldacci & Mireille Viguier), Paris, France: ‘L’identité biologique : une réalité composite’.

• October 20, 2014: talk (in French) at the “Lundis de la Philosophie” (Francis Wolff), Ecole normale supérieure de Paris, France: ‘Construire le dialogue entre sciences et métaphysique : L’exemple de la notion d’individu en biologie’.

• September 9-10, 2014: Explaining Development, Istituto Veneto di Scienze Lettere ed Arti, Venice. This workshop is co-organized by Alessandro Minelli (Padova) and Thomas Pradeu. It gathers development biologists, evo-devo people and philosophers, to address the question of how to best explain developmental processes.

• June 23-24, 2014: Redefining the Self: Biological and Philosophical Perspectives, Paris-Sorbonne University, amphi. Richelieu, June 23-24 (co-organized with Hugues Bersini, Marc Daëron, Leïla Périé and Véronique Thomas-Vaslin). This conference gathered world-leading immunologists, microbiologists and philosophers, for a common critical examination of the notions of self, nonself, identity, individuality and uniqueness in current biological sciences.

In 2013:

• Co-organization (with Alexandre Manafu, Alexandre Guay and Max Kistler) of a conference on individuals in the metaphysics of science (ANR “Métaphysique des sciences”) (IHPST, Paris, November 18-19, 2013)Présentation “Quelle théorie pour l’immunologie?” devant les étudiants de M2 Immunologie des Universités Paris 5, 6 et 7 (4 Novembre 2013)Co-organization (with Evelyn Houliston, UPMC) of the meeting What is development? A dialogue between biologists and philosophers (Station marine de Villefranche-sur-Mer, Sept 4-5, 2013)Organization of the 2013 meetingof the International Society for History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology (ISHPSSB) (co-chair of the program committee with Michel Morange) (Montpellier, July 7-12, 2013) Organization of the conferenceThere won’t be blood: a dialogue on human cooperation, a dialogue between philosopher Kim Sterelny and psychologist Michael Tomasello (Paris-Sorbonne University, June 27, 2013)

• Organisation du colloque Cognition, adaptation et complexité : des êtres vivants aux robots, en partenariat avec l’ISIR (UPMC) (Maison de la Recherche, Univ. Paris-Sorbonne, April 11, 2013)Co-organization with John Dupré (Univ. of Exeter) and Gladys Kostyrka (IHPST) of the conference Microbes, Evolution, Metabolism (IHPST, Paris, February 4-5, 2013)

• Le soi et son autre : individualité biologique, greffes et symbioses(Univ. Toulouse Le Mirail, Toulouse, Jan 16, 2013)

In 2012:

• Emergence in science / L’émergence dans les sciences : Programme(Univ. Paris-Sorbonne, Paris, Dec 11, 2012)Situating Metaphysics of Science: Back to Square One (Univ. Roma 3, Rome, Nov 6, 2012)To be continued: The genidentity of physical and biological processes (with A. Guay) (Conference Individual across sciences: A revisionary metaphysics?, org. A. Guay & T. Pradeu, Paris-Sorbonne University, Paris, May 18-20, 2012)

• “Situating Metaphysics of Science: Back to Square One” (with A. Guay) (Paris, Conference on Metaphysical Knowledge, org. P. Ludwig, F. Drapeau-Contim & T. Pradeu, March 29-31, 2012)“Comment expliquer la réponse immunitaire? Une critique de la théorie du danger” (Marseille, Centre d’immunologie de Marseille Luminy, April 5, 2012)“Théories, modèles et paradigmes en biologie moléculaire : Le cas de l’immunologie” (Marseille, Ecole doctorale Sciences de la vie et de la santé, April 4, 2012)“La construction des normes de la science” (Ecole française de Rome, Rome, March 17, 2012)

In 2011:

• “Constructing the Organism” (American Philosophical Association, invited talk, Dec 29, 2011)

• Présentation ENS Animal (Dec 2011)Evolution et émergence (Conférence “Emergence : enjeux du réductionnisme en philosophie des sciences“, Bordeaux, Univ. Bordeaux 3, November 10, 2011)