• 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
Mistakes in Living Systems Home

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.

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

‘Reconceptualising Function and Goal-Directedness’

at the University of Reading in September 2023!

Watch David Oderberg’s public lecture on our research project