Gunnar Babcock

Gunnar Babcock (he/him) teaches Ethics in Life Sciences. He received a PhD in philosophy from the University at Albany, SUNY and he has taught courses in applied ethics, philosophy of biology, evolutionary biology, bioethics, and environmental philosophy. Before coming to Cornell University, he was a postdoctoral associate in the Dept. of Biology at Duke University for four years where he taught and worked on developing a theory of how goal directed systems work in biology. His work appears in journals such as the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Synthese, and Philosophy of Science. In his teaching, he incorporates team based learning and active learning exercises with the aim of making his courses accessible and engaging. Before pursuing an academic career, Gunnar oversaw a domestication project in Alaska for six years. If you’re curious about Gunnar’s work, check out his article in Aeon Magazine that considers identity and how it relates to biological reproduction:  https://aeon.co/essays/we-need-to-stop-thinking-about-sex-when-it-comes-to-reproduction

Selected Publications

• Babcock, G., McShea, D.W., (forthcoming). “Goal directedness and the field concept”, Philosophy of Science 
• Babcock, G., McShea, D.W., (2024). “Agency as internal control” In Fábregas-Tejeda, A., Baedke, J., Prieto, G.I & Radick, G. (Eds.), The Riddle of Organismal Agency: New Historical and Philosophical Reflections, Routledge.
• Babcock, G., (2023). “Teleology and function in non-living nature”, Synthese, 201(4)
• Babcock, G., McShea, D.W., (2023). “Resolving teleology’s false dilemma”, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 39(4): 415-432
• Babcock, G., (2021). “Are Synthetic Genomes Parts of a Genetic Lineage?”, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 72(4): 995-1011
• Babcock, G., McShea, D.W., (2021). “An externalist teleology”, Synthese, 199: 8755-8780
• Babcock, G., (2020). “Asexual organisms, identity and vertical gene transfer”, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 81:101265