Research

Project in the Collaborative Research Center “A Novel Synthesis of Individualization across Behavior, Ecology and Evolution: Niche Choice, Niche Conformance, Niche Construction” (TRR-SFB 212)

This project explicates what individualized ecological niches are and how they relate to mechanisms of niche choice, conformance, and construction. Our philosophical analysis focuses on three concepts that play a central role in the SFB: the concept of biological individuality, the concept of an (social) individualized niche, and the concept of an ecological or evolutionary mechanism. We specify the meaning of these concepts, their ontological presuppositions, and how they relate to each other. This project provides conceptual clarity and unification to the SFB, and it contributes to establishing a solid theoretical fundament of the novel synthesis of individualization.