• Mistakes in Living Systems

    A New Conceptual Framework for the Study of Purpose in Biology
About us

Principal Investigator: David S. Oderberg is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Reading  and current Head of Department. He...
The Project

Project title: Mistakes in Living Systems: A New Conceptual Framework for the Study of Purpose in Biology Purpose Podcast on...
Our Research

For decades, high-level philosophical terms such as teleology, agency, and purpose have generated intense debate among philosophers whilst rarely being...
Our Publications

'Biological Mistakes: What They Are and What They Mean for the Experimental Biologist' (D.S. Oderberg, J. Hill, C. Austin, I....
News and Events

Agency Directionality & FunctionJohn Templeton Foundation

Welcome to our three-year research project on Mistakes in Living Systems: A New Conceptual Framework for the Study of Purpose in Biology.

This project is funded by a generous grant from the John Templeton Foundation as part of a new global, multi-disciplinary research programme 'Agency, Directionality and Function', dedicated to the intensive re-evaluation of the place of goal-directedness in biology. This unique research effort is led by Prof. Alan Love at the University of Minnesota.

If you would like to stay updated with the latest project news and events, click here to register for our newsletter.

A big thank-you to everyone who attended the cluster workshop:

‘Reconceptualising Function and Goal-Directedness’

at the University of Reading in September!

Watch David Oderberg’s public lecture on our research project