Biography and research presentation:
« Ruãn Batista is a Brazilian philosopher of biology with a background in Biological Sciences (B.Sc.) and Philosophy (M.A.). He is currently pursuing a doctorate in Philosophy of Science at the Federal University of Bahia and the State University of Feira de Santana (Brazil), under the supervision of Prof. Charbel Niño El-Hani. His primary field of research is the Philosophy of Biology, developed in dialogue with the History of Biology and oriented toward potential contributions to Theoretical Biology. His work emphasizes problems in the Metaphysics of Biology, focusing on the metaphysical commitments underlying scientific practices in Biological Systematics (especially Hennigian Phylogenetic Systematics), the (contemporary) Theory of Biological Autonomy, the Theory of Organism, and Astrobiology. He also conducts research in the Philosophy of Science more broadly, where he addresses issues in the Metaphysics of Science from a naturalist-pragmatic perspective.
During his research stay at ENS-PSL, Ruãn will work under the supervision of the theoretical biologist and philosopher of biology Maël Montévil (CNRS, République des Savoirs, Centre Cavaillès) and will be affiliated with the Interdisciplinary Program: Theoretical Foundations of Biology. Their collaboration will focus on deepening the understanding of the onto-epistemic articulations between historicity and autonomy in biology.
His current doctoral project is entitled “Individuality, Historicity, and Autonomy: Towards a Metaphysics of Biological Organization.” The thesis is structured around three main movements:
I. The development and defense of a naturalist–pragmatic analytical framework suitable for investigating the metaphysical dimension of biological individuality, designed to support analyses of both intratheoretical metaphysical content and intertheoretical metaphysical articulations within biology;
II. An examination of whether and how the metaphysical foundations of historical and non-historical branches of the biological sciences are interrelated, with particular attention to the relations between contemporary organicist theories of biological autonomy and phylogenetic systematics;
III. An organicist-oriented critique of the processualist approach advanced in contemporary metaphysics of biology, followed by the proposal of a hybrid metaphysics for characterizing biological organization and accounting for its central role across the various practices of biology ».
Ruãn Batista’s research-stay in ENS will run from September 2 (2025) to May 31 (2026) and he is funded by the program CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior).