Andra Meneganzin

Innovation Strikes In The Field Of Chimpanzee Rectum Adornment | Defector Fifteen years ago in a sanctuary in Zambia, inspiration struck a chimpanzee named Julie. She plucked a stiff blade of grass, stuck it inside her ear, and left it there. There the grass dangled as Juli...

Digest here: defector.com/innovation-s...

It appears that grass-in-ear has become vintage #chimp fashion. Welcome grass-in-rectum!🍑

Such a shame this didn't come in on time for Grant Ramsey's and mine latest paper on behavioural innovativeness... 🙃

#animalculture #animalbehaviour #innovation #philsky #hpbio 🧪

CFP on theme of Recent Work in Philosophy of the Historical Sciences special issue Revue Philosophique de Louvain. Abstract 500 words to charles.pence@uclouvain.be & daniel.swaim@marquette.edu, by October 1, 2025.
Accepted abstracts full papers due July 1, 2026
pencelab.be/en/events/rp...
#HPS

Forthcoming (early 2026) *The Science of Lost Worlds* (BSPSOpen/UCalgary Press). Featuring illustrations by Jim Robins and philosophy by um me!!!

Deeply inspired by the excellent Israeli scholars at #ISHPSSB2025 who have not remained silent about the horrors and war crimes happening in the Gaza strip. Thank you for continuing to raise your voices and uphold the values of academia.
None of us should stay silent.
@duhe.bsky.social

I'm happy to share our latest manuscript "Impediments to countering racist pseudoscience", coauthored with @gillianrbrown1.bsky.social @kztwyman.bsky.social & Marcus Feldman.

What would imaginary ancestors do? Thought experiments and intuitive plausibility in human cognitive evolution - Biology & Philosophy The reconstruction of the evolutionary history of human cognition is a complex, interdisciplinary science. Human evolutionary theorists generally use a wide variety of evidential sources to construct ...

Sometimes when we’re trying to explain the evolution of human cognition we rely on intuitive judgements about how our ancestors thought that our current cognition might not be well-suited to make, or so argues Margaret Farrell in this cool new paper… link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Well-timed for #ishpssb2025 👇 these authors are among the few academics actively trying to tackle the scourge of scientific racism. Would be great to see more historians and philosophers of science engage with this problem

Had such a fantastic time at ISHPSSB 2025 in Porto!
Great talks and inspiring conversations about philosophy of biology (and cultural coevolution) with amazing people.

#ISHPSSB2025 #hpbio #philsci #histstm #histsci #philbio #hbio #sts

This week @universitypress.cambridge.org has granted free access to all titles in the collection of Cambridge Elements in the Philosophy of Biology, edited by Grant Ramsey. There are many options to choose from! Happy reading! 📕👇 www.cambridge.org/core/publica... #philsci #HPbio #evosky #ISHPSSB2025

Super interesting topic and great talk! 👌

That was such an interesting session and talk! It got me thinking about evidential standards in different sciences 🤔

I should have tagged @ishpssb2025.bsky.social too. These 600+ person conferences are a tremendous amount of work by already busy academics & all that work often remains invisible when everything goes as smoothly as #ISHPSSB2025 It has been a great success; thank you again to all who made it happen!

Screenshot of a journal article titled "Two ontogenetic challenges to trait individuation" by Alejandro Fábregas-Tejeda, published in Synthese (2025) 205:219. The abstract reads: "Trait individuation is an epistemically indispensable and heuristically fruitful practice in biological science. However, important ontological issues transcend an epistemology-only reading of what trait individuation entails (e.g., adaptation and homology), prompting scholars to advance models and frameworks to grapple with this problem. Here, I articulate two challenges that arise when advancing theories and frameworks to tackle trait individuation: the synchronicity and the diachronicity challenges. The synchronicity challenge involves specifying the traits an organism has at a given moment in ontogeny, whereas the diachronicity challenge involves understanding the causal processes that drive trait individuation in development and tracing these units across time. To delve deeper, I introduce extant functionalist and structuralist perspectives on trait individuation and evaluate how they address both challenges. Overcoming these challenges is necessary for such accounts to fulfill their theoretical promise of individuating the traits that organisms have in an ontologically sound way."

“Traits” are central units of biological analysis—but how should they be individuated, and relative to which ontogenetic frame of reference? In my new paper, I argue that answering this isn’t easy—and matters more than it seems. 📃👇 link.springer.com/article/10.1... #philsci #HPBio #evosky #evodevo

Friends of the Historical Sciences Dinner: Porto edition! #ish

Thanks for attending, Alisa! 😊

Andra in front of screen text: Introduction • Philosophers of science have long departed from conceptions of science as axiomatic, unified and stable systems of inquiry > knowledge production as a highly dynamic, situated and collective process. • Epistemic standards play a key role in knowledge generation processes (Brigandt 2012, Jacoby 2023) and among these, evidential standards (e.g., Stegenga 2011; Tempini and Leonelli 2021). • In contexts of inquiry marked by 'epistemic scarcity' (Currie 2021) like paleoanthropology, evidential standards are frequently invoked in debated settings: How are evidential standards constructed, interpreted and enforced?

@andrameneganzin.bsky.social & Matteo Bedettti on "Homo naledi, Controversial Burials & Responsibility Failures" in session "Abusing Deep Time: Scientific Responsibility in the Paleosciences" at @ishpssb2025.bsky.social #ISHPSSB2025 #philsci #paleosky 🏺

@andrameneganzin.bsky.social and Matteo Bedetti (the latter pictured), guide us through a fascinating case in a “failure” to adhere to evidentiary standards in burial of Homo naledi. Part of a super session on “Abusing Deep Time”, ft. an image of beautiful fountain near our venue! #ISHPSSB2025

Slide outlining some issue with the claim of burials by Homo naledi.

Interesting talk by @andrameneganzin.bsky.social and Matteo Bedetti on the controversial claim for burials by Homo naledi.

What does it mean to meet (or fail to meet) evidential standards, and what happens when communication of findings proceeds peer evaluation?

@ishpssb2025.bsky.social

Join our session on the first day of #ISHPPSB2025 to delve into epistemic and non-epistemic abuses of the deep past 👀
🕘 9 am, Anf. 1!

Feat: Homo naledi & evidential standards, misinterpretations of the role of women, speculation & risk in the paleosciences. 💀🧪🏺

#philbio #philsky #paleosky

🔥New paper out!🔥

Here, Grant & I defend a novel, multidimensional account of behavioural innovativeness that is multilevel too. This complicates comparative claims, as the links btwn individual & group innovativeness are far from straightforward.

Yes, #Neanderthals do pop up in the mix 💀🏺
#philsky

Promotional image for the call for applications for an academic workshop titled “Behavior Across the Tree of Life: Theoretical and Methodological Challenges.” The topic is Comparative Behavioral Biology, organized by Gianmaria Dani, Alejandro Fábregas-Tejeda, and Grant Ramsey (Institute of Philosophy, KU Leuven). Invited speakers include Kristin Aleklett (Lund University), Silvia Guerra (University of Padua), Tobias Starzak (Ruhr University Bochum), and Kirsty Y. Wan (University of Exeter). The call for applications lists a submission deadline of July 14th, 2025, and a notification date of July 18th, 2025. Abstracts of max. 500 words (excluding references) are invited from philosophers and scientists. Contact emails for submissions are provided. The poster features circular images of fungi, microbes, a phylogenetic tree, ants on a leaf, and a carnivorous plant.

What challenges emerge when investigating #behavior across the tree of life? We have an open CfA for a workshop on comparative behavioral biology (Sept. 26-27). Scientists & philosophers are welcome! Please help us spread the word! 📢👇 hiw.kuleuven.be/clps/events/... #philsci #evosky #HPbio #Paleosky

Folks! Just two weeks left to submit an abstract to this fantastic workshop here at KU Leuven! Gianmaria and @alejandrofabregastejeda.com are cooking up some really cool work...

@theramseylab.bsky.social is restless—and so should you be.

Please circulate widely!

#philsky #philbio #hpbio #philsci🧪

Major expansion in the human niche preceded out of Africa dispersal - Nature Analysis of species distribution models in a pan-African database comprising chronometrically dated archaeological sites over the past 120,000 years shows major expansion in the human niche from 70 ka...

after 6 years, finally out in @nature.com!
‪Huge expansion of the human #niche in Africa ~70kya likely equipped later #outofAfrica dispersals with unique ecological flexibility

co-led with Emily Hallett @eegcam.bsky.social & @elliescerri.bsky.social
#prehistory #humanevolution #paleoecology #SDM

Screenshot of the cover of the paper “What are the ‘Levels’ in the Levels of Selection?” by Markus Eronen and Grant Ramsey, just published in The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science (cover shown on the right).

Fresh off the press on @thebjps.bsky.social! Markus Eronen & Grant Ramsey argue that questions about levels of selection shouldn't be conflated with those about levels of biological organization and defend a deflationary perspective to help disentangle the two.

#philbio #philsky #philsci #evobio 🧪

Evening shot of the Perspectives crowd—it really captures the spirit.
@alejandrofabregastejeda.com @olesyabondarenko.bsky.social @celsoneto.bsky.social @liabetti.bsky.social

🧪🏺

#philsky #paleosky #philbio #philsci

Put a bunch of curious philosophers and paleoanthropologists in a room, and magic happens. ✨ The Perspectives Workshop was an absolute joy — thanks to all the participants for making it such a memorable and inspiring experience!

#philsky #paleosky #philbio

🧪⚱️

Grant Ramsey summarizes the main topics and themes of the workshop “Perspectives on Human Variation: Philosophy Meets Evolutionary Anthropology.” He stands in a historic room (Raadzaal) with ornate wallpaper, large oil portraits, and a chandelier, addressing a seated group of scientists and philosophers around a long table.

We’re now discussing some of the key themes that emerged during the workshop: trait individuation; measurement & modeling; explanations of variation; the value & limitations of typologies; and interdisciplinary dialogue across evo. anthropology, archaeology, psychology & philosophy, among others.

Celso Neto presents at the “Perspectives on Human Variation: Philosophy Meets Evolutionary Anthropology” workshop at KU Leuven. He stands in a historic room with green patterned wallpaper, addressing an audience seated around wooden tables. A large screen behind him displays the title of him talk “Is Human Population Genetics Typological?”

@celsoneto.bsky.social (Egenis, University of Exeter) is assessing the important question of whether human population genetics embraces statistical forms of typological thinking and falls prey to some of the problems associated with such thinking.

Olesya Bondarenko presents at the "Perspectives on Human Variation: Philosophy meets Evolutionary Anthropology" workshop at KU Leuven. She stands beside a screen displaying a slide titled "Behavioural genetics (BG)" while participants seated around a large wooden table listen in a historic room adorned with ornate wallpaper and large oil portraits.

@olesyabondarenko.bsky.social (Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research) is now reflecting on the prospects of integration between behavioral genetics & cultural evolutionary theory (e.g., their epistemic goals, the problem of variance decomposition & heritability estimates, etc)