Process-Philosophical Perspectives on Biology: Intuiting Life

Spyridon A. Koutroufinis is a Privatdozent (Associate Professor by habilitation) at the Institute of Philosophy at the Technical University of Berlin, Germany. His primary areas of expertise are biophilosophy, process philosophy (Whitehead, Bergson, and others), the theory of self-organization in complex dynamical systems, and classical metaphysics (Aristotle, Leibniz). His research examines the philosophical foundations of biological form and process, drawing critically on systems theory and positively on process thought. Dr. Koutroufinis seeks to renew the theory of the organism through novel interpretations of the work of Canguilhem, Uexküll, Portmann, Jonas, Goldstein, and other biophilosophers and life scientists, inspired by the ontologies of Bergson and Whitehead. He has authored and edited numerous books, journal articles, and book chapters in these fields. His latest monograph, Organismus als Prozess (2019, Karl Alber), develops a process-ontological theory of ontogenetic and embryogenetic becoming. The book aims to synthesize contemporary systems theory with process thought, moving beyond twentieth-century process philosophy to address fundamental problems in modern systems-theoretical biology. Dr. Koutroufinis also investigates the concept of intuition in the history of philosophy and its renewal through process philosophy, while critically examining transhumanism and posthumanism.