AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION
Philosophy of Biology, Philosophy of Science, Evolutionary Theory
AREAS OF COMPETENCE
History and Philosophy of Science, Bioethics/Medical Ethics, Epistemology
EDUCATION
Ph.D. May, 2012 Philosophy Duke University
M.S. December, 2011 Biology Duke University
B.A. May, 2005 Biology/Philosophy Bucknell University
PhD, Philosophy
Variance, Selection and Evolutionary Explanation
Co-Chairs: Robert Brandon and Alexander Rosenberg
MS, Biology
The Greater Complexity of Drosophila Mutants Compared to the Wild Type: part-type, shape, and color complexity over two focal levels
Chair: Daniel McShea
EMPLOYMENT
Associate Professor of Philosophy, Utica College (08/17 – present)
Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Utica College (08/13 – 07/17)
Teaching Contemporary Ethical Issues in Science and Technology, Critical Thinking, Evolution and its Discontents, History and Philosophy of Science, Introduction to Ethics, Professional Ethics
Postdoctoral Fellow, Bass Connections at Duke (05/12 – 07/13)
Taught for the philosophy department, researched and helped design new philosophy courses, designed and maintained the website, organized and maintained the listserv, helped organize and run meetings for the “Information, Society, & Culture” theme and the Bass Connections Advisory Council (formerly “Duke IDEAS” – Inter-disciplinary education and society).
Associate Director, Duke’s Center for Philosophy, Arts and Literature (07/09 – 07/13)
Designed and maintained the website, organized and maintained the listserv, helped organize lectures, symposia, and reading groups. Performed all graphic design tasks for publicity and community outreach.
Co-Instructor, Thomas Writing Program at Duke University (November 2011)
Co-organized and co-taught the fall writing symposium, “Writing Science” for advanced undergraduates that need help writing about their science research, whether in a research proposal, an application to graduate or medical school or a publishable paper.
REFEREED PUBLICATIONS
Carlos Mariscal and Leonore Fleming. “Why We Should Care About Universal Biology” Biological Theory. (2017) doi: DOI: 10.1007/s13752-017-0280-8
Fleming, Leonore. “Two Dogmas of Biology” Philosophy & Theory in Biology (2017) 9(2): 1-14. *Open Access*
Fleming, Leonore and Robert Brandon. “Why Flying Dogs are Rare: A General Theory of Luck in the Evolutionary Transitions” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences (2015) 49: 24-31 DOI: 10.1016/j.shpsc.2014.10.006
Brandon, Robert and Leonore Fleming. “Drift sometimes dominates selection, and vice versa: A reply to Clatterbuck, Sober and Lewontin” Biology and Philosophy (2014) 29(4):577-585 DOI: 10.1007/s10539-014-9437-z
Fleming, Leonore and Daniel McShea. “Drosophila Mutants Suggest a Strong Drive Toward Complexity in Evolution.” Evolution and Development (2013) 15(1): 53-62 DOI: 10.1111/ede.12014 – featured in Scientific American (Download the Sci Am article here)
Fleming, Leonore. “The Notion of Limited Perfect Adaptedness in Darwin’s Principle of Divergence.” Perspectives on Science (2013) 21(1): 1-22. DOI:10.1162/POSC_a_00084
Fleming, Leonore. “Network Theory and the Formation of Groups without Evolutionary Forces.” Evolutionary Biology (2012) 39(1): 94-105. DOI: 10.1007/s11692-011-9140-9
INVITED PUBLICATIONS
Fleming, Leonore. “biology, philosophy of.” A Dictionary of Cultural and Critical Theory: Second Edition. Payne, Michael and Jessica Rae Barbera (eds). Blackwell Publishing, 2010.
Fleming, Leonore. “neo-Darwinism.” A Dictionary of Cultural and Critical Theory: Second Edition. Payne, Michael and Jessica Rae Barbera (eds). Blackwell Publishing, 2010.
UNDER REVIEW
IN PROGRESS
“Teleology and Upper Directedness in Astrophysics”
“Driverless Cars in an Indeterministic World: the new scientific paradigm of chance and stochasticity”
“Too Big To Fail? Databanks and Big Data Initiatives”
PRESENTATIONS
“Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Variation.” Invited paper to be presented at: On the nature of variation: random, biased and Directional, A CFCUL/BIODECON Conference, University of Lisbon, Portugal. October 3-4 2017
“Teleology and Upper Directedness in Astrophysics.”Paper presented at SoCIA2016: Social and Conceptual Issues in Astrobiology, Clemson University. September 2016
“The Rise Of Big Data, And Where It Can Go From Here.” Paper presented at Colgate University, Humanities Colloquium, Hamilton, New York February 2016
“The world is more random than we realize: proteins as a complex system.”
Seminar Presentation, Arizona State University’s School of Life Sciences, Tempe, Arizona January 2015
“The Origins of Life’s Complexity”
Nexus Seminar, Utica College, Utica, New York March 2014
“Quantifying the Zero Force Evolutionary Law”
International Society for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology, Montpellier, France July 2013
“The Origin of New Levels of Hierarchy and Why Selection is Not the Answer”
Department Colloquium, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri February 2013
“What’s biology got to do with it? Or, what can Darwinism tell us about morality?”
Teaching Presentation, Utica College, Utica, NY February 2013
“The Origin of New Levels of Hierarchy and Why Selection is Not the Answer”
Department Colloquium, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana January 2013
“Putting Selection in its Place: Evolutionary Explanations in Philosophy”
Department Colloquium, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida January 2013
“Putting Selection in its Place: Evolutionary Explanations in Philosophy”
Department Colloquium, Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minnesota February 2012
“A Missing Piece of the Theory of Evolutionary Transitions”
Department Colloquium, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia February 2011
“The Main Interpretations of Darwin’s Principle of Divergence: How Darwin Went Wrong”
International Society for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology, Brisbane, Australia July 2009
“The Emergence of Downward Causation in Biological Systems”
Consortium for the History and Philosophy of Biology, Paris I Université, Paris May 2007
FELLOWSHIPS, AWARDS, GRANTS
The National Society of Leadership and Success, Sigma Alpha Pi Teaching Award, Utica College (12/15)
Mellon Sawyer Seminar Research Fellowship, “Phenomenology, Minds & Media”, Duke University (06/11 – 06/12)
Summer Research Fellowship for Graduate Students in Humanities & Social Science Programs, Duke University (06/09 – 08/09)
RESEARCH
Research Assistant, Macroevolutionary Biology, Duke University (01/07 – 05/08)
Worked for post-doc Carl Simpson and Dr. Daniel McShea in the McShea biology lab at Duke University researching levels of selection and the transition to coloniality and sociality. Funded by a Templeton Grant.
SERVICE
Coordinator, Nexus Seminar Series at Utica College (06/14-present)
Coordinator, GeoTalk Seminar Series (Jul 2016 – present)
Developer and co-presenter (with Gwendolyn Bradley) of the AAUP Building a Chapter Website Webinar (Presented October 2015 and available on the AAUP website)
Governing Board Member and Webmaster, American Association of University Professors-Utica College Chapter (o6/14-present)
Co-Organizer, Consortium for the History and Philosophy of Biology, Duke University (06/13)
Conference title: “Information and Transmission.” Keynote speaker was Ulrich Stegmann.
Assistant Director, Center for Philosophy of Biology, Duke University (08/07 – 08/10)
Maintained the website and listserv, and organized and attended the bimonthly philosophy of biology reading group meetings.
Main Organizer, Center for Philosophy of Biology’s 8th Annual Conference, Duke University (05/09)
Conference title: “Form, Function and Homology.” Speakers included Ingo Brigandt, Karen Neander, Karl J. Niklas, Richard A. Richards, V. Louise Roth, Roger Sansom.
Co-Organizer, Center for Philosophy of Biology’s 7th Annual Conference, Duke University (04/08)
Conference title: “Cooperative Alliances in the History of Life: Aggregation, Individuation, and the Major Evolutionary Transitions.” Speakers included Todd Grantham, Samir Okasha, Joan Strassmann, Andrew Hamilton.
Committee member, Center for Philosophy of Biology’s 6th Annual Conference, Duke University (04/07)
Conference title: “Chance in Evolution.” Speakers included Richard Lewontin, John Beatty, Werner Callebaut, Roberta Millstein, William Provine.
Session Chair, Consortium for the History and Philosophy of Biology, University of Montréal, Montréal (05/06)
Chaired Michel Morange’s talk, “Self-organization and complexity.”
REFERENCES
Robert N. Brandon, Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Biology, Duke University
Daniel W. McShea, Professor of Biology and Associate Professor of Philosophy, Duke University
Alex Rosenberg, R. Taylor Cole Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Biology, Duke University
V. Louise Roth, Associate Professor of Biology and Associate Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University
Andrew Janiak, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Duke University
Christopher Riddle, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Utica College
Toril Moi, James B. Duke Professor of Literature and Romance Studies, and Professor of English, Theater Studies and Professor of Philosophy, Duke University
Tad Schmaltz, Professor of Philosophy, University of Michigan
H. Frederik Nijhout, Professor of Biology, Duke University
Allen E. Buchanan, James B. Duke Professor of Philosophy, Duke University
Leonore Fleming 