Seminar Agency between Biology and Philosophy 2025/2026

Here, you will find the 2025-2026 programme, and general information about our seminar.

The introductory post can be found here.

Next session

10 June, 4.15 to 5.15 PM UK time

Session led by Christopher Joseph Gonzalez An

Title: Normative Agency Beyond Humans

Abstract: There is considerable controversy and disunity about the extent to which normative agency and the capacity to entertain norms can be attributed to other species beyond humans. This talk argues that existing accounts attributing normative agency to non-human species tend to offer deflationary accounts of normativity that can be made to easily fit the current evidence. This, however, sidesteps substantive philosophical and conceptual issues surrounding normative agency. I argue that much of the disunity comes from the differing philosophical and conceptual assumptions, particularly assumptions about what it takes to follow a rule or norm. I propose an alternative that aims to navigate a middle ground between deflationary (i.e., regularist, reductive) and inflationary (i.e., regulist, intellectualistic) accounts of rule-following. My alternative is motivated by a “deontic” social constraint that I suggest can be cashed out in “participation frameworks” established through mechanisms involving joint commitment and co-regulated interaction. Based on this framework, I argue that animal social play interactions give us the most rudimentary form of bindingness and commitment to shared rules. Rules are unpacked as pragmatic, affordance-based deontic expectations that emerge in co-regulated communicative exchange between mutually committed play partners. Comparative investigation into normative agency should thus look at the interactive dynamics of social play as a key behavioural and developmental system to understand its evolutionary origins.

Join Zoom Meeting:

https://ucl.zoom.us/j/94845332305

Meeting ID: 948 4533 2305

Programme for 2025/2026

This year, we will meet each second Wednesday of each month, from 4pm to 5pm (UK time).

Upcoming dates: 

• 12 November: Session on the minimal viable mechanisms of biological agency (session led by Daria Zakharova). (Report available on the Google Drive)*

• 10 December: "A good life on their own?" Session led by Angie Pepper on how to conceive of animal interests in freedom. (Report available on the Google Drive)*

• 14 January : Session on how to promote agency for captive animals, with a focus on elephants (session led by Lisa Yon) (Report available on the Google Drive)*

• 11 February: Session on play as a problematic case of agency (session led by Marek Špinka) (Report available on the Google Drive)*

• 25 March: Session on agency and cognitive capacities led by Hugh Desmond (Report available on the Google Drive)*

• 8 April: Ecological Agency: A metaphysics for Dialectical Biology (session led by Denis Walsh) (Report available on the Google Drive)*

• 13 May: Session on AI agency "Distinguishing AI roleplay and agency: The case of deception" (session led by Leonard Dung) Report available on the Google Drive)*

• 10 June: "Normative agency beyond humans?" Session led by Christopher Joseph Gonzalez An)

*Abstracts, slides, references, and reports of each session can be found in our share Google Drive, when available. Please contact mathilde.tahar@ucl.ac.uk for more information on how to join the mailing list, and access the Google Drive.

Join Zoom Meeting:

https://ucl.zoom.us/j/94845332305

Meeting ID: 948 4533 2305

Session Format

Each session will be structured as follows:

1. A 15–20-minute presentation, introducing a conceptual or empirical challenge related to agency.

2. A 40–45-minute discussion, aimed at collaboratively exploring the topic.

Topics

The following topics will guide our discussions throughout the series (not necessarily in this order):

1. Autonomy

   • How do we define autonomy?

   • Does it imply moral obligations? Are agents moral agents and/or moral recipients?

2. Choice, Decision-Making, and Intentionality

   • What does it mean for a nonhuman animal to have a choice or the ability to make decisions?

   • Is choice necessarily linked to intentionality?

   • How can choice or intentionality be recognised through behaviours?

   • How can we integrate these ideas into methods and experiments?

   • How can we avoid anthropomorphism?

3. Niche Construction and Effects on Ecology/Evolution

   • What makes a living system an “evolutionary” or “ecological” agent?

   • Are all living systems or organisms agents?

4. Levels and Degrees/Forms of Agency

   • Are there multiple levels of agency?

   • Are there degrees of agency

   • Are there distinct forms of agency?

5. Studying Agency Without Manipulating It

   • How can we study agency ethically, and when is manipulation/human interference justified or not?

6. Agency and Animal Welfare

   • How can agency considerations be integrated into welfare practices?

7. The Conceptual Role of Agency

   • What role does the concept of agency play in research?

Join Us

If you’re interested in joining the mailing list, accessing our shared Google Drive folder, or learning more about the seminar, please email: mathilde.tahar@ucl.ac.uk.