CURRICULUM VITAE
KAREN KOVAKA
University of Pennsylvania
Department of Philosophy
Cohen Hall 433
Philadelphia, PA, 19104
phone: 518.651.0298
web: www.karenkovaka.com
email: [email protected]
AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION
philosophy of science, philosophy of biology, environmental ethics
AREAS OF COMPETENCE
Social and political philosophy, epistemology
EDUCATION_________________________________________________________________
University of Pennsylvania
PhD (2012-[expected] 2017), Department of Philosophy
Dissertation: Disagreement and Developmental Plasticity
Committee: Michael Weisberg (Supervisor), Quayshawn Spencer, Alexander Guerrero,
Timothy Linksvayer (Biology)
The Australian National University
Visiting Scholar (August 2016)
Boston College
BS (2008-2012), Environmental Geoscience, Philosophy
PUBLICATIONS______________________________________________________________
Kovaka, K. “Evidence and underdetermination in the developmental plasticity debate.”
(conditional acceptance, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science).
Kovaka, K. “Different research programs need different individuality concepts.” (invited review,
Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science Part C).
Warner, M., Kovaka, K. & Linksvayer, T. 2016. “Late-instar ant worker larvae play a prominent
role in colony-level caste regulation.” Insectes Sociaux. DOI: 10.1007/s00040-0160501-3.
Kovaka, K., Santana, C., Patel, R., Akcay, E. & Weisberg, M. 2016. “Agriculture increases
individual fitness.” Brain and Behavioral Sciences 39.
Kovaka, K. 2015 “Biological individuality and scientific practice.” Philosophy of Science
82(5):1092-1103.
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MANUSCRIPTS_______________________________________________________________
Kovaka, K. “Replicators, inducers, and evolutionary novelty.” (revise and resubmit, Biology and
Philosophy).
Singer, D., Bramson, A., Grim, P., Holman, B., Jung, J., Kovaka, K., Ranginani, A., Berger, W.
“Rational social and political polarization.” (under review)
Kovaka, K. “Why don't Americans accept climate change?” (in preparation)
Kovaka, K. “A defense of relative significance controversies.” (in preparation)
Kovaka, K. “Underdetermination in real life.” (in preparation)
Kovaka, K. “Characteristics of successful environmental interventions.” (in preparation)
FELLOWSHIPS, AWARDS, AND HONORS_______________________________________
2016
Dean's Scholar (University of Pennsylvania)
Academic award granted to 9 graduate students each year
2016
Teaching Certificate (Penn Center for Teaching and Learning)
Earned by only 5% of Penn PhD students
2016
President Gutmann Leadership Award (University of Pennsylvania)
Academic award granted to 12-15 graduate students each year
2012-2015
Lilly Graduate Fellowship (Lilly Fellows Program, Valparaiso University)
National award for teaching-focused graduate students in the humanities.
Awarded to 16 students each year.
2013-2016
George W.M. Bacon Fellowship (University of Pennsylvania)
Full support for graduate research from the Philosophy Department
2012-2013
Benjamin Franklin Fellowship (University of Pennsylvania)
Full support for graduate research from the Philosophy Department
2008-2012
Presidential Scholar (Boston College)
Full tuition scholarship granted to 15 students each year
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CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS_____________________________________________
What is the signature of plasticity?
• PSA 2016 (Philosophy of Science Association Biennial Meeting), November 2016
Interacting inheritance channels
• Philosophy of Biology Dolphin Beach, August 2016
Underdetermination in the developmental plasticity debate
• Philosophy of Biology at Madison, May 2016
Why don't Americans accept climate change?
• Philosophy and Education Workshop, University of Pennsylvania, October 2015
Replicators, inducers, and evolutionary novelty
• IHSPSSB 2015 (International Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of
Biology, Montreal), July 2015
• BSPS 2015 (British Society for the Philosophy of Science, Manchester) July 2015
Biological individuality and scientific practice
• PSA 2014 (Philosophy of Science Association Biennial Meeting), November 2014
Values, evolution, and predictive ecology
• Institute for for Philosophy and Public Policy, George Mason University, May 2014
Superorganisms and biological individuality
• ISHPSSB 2013 (International Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of
Biology, Montpelier), July 2013
DEPARTMENTAL PRESENTATIONS___________________________________________
Replicators, inducers, and evolutionary novelty
• Penn Philosophy of Science Workshop, May 2015
Values, evolution, and predictive ecology
• Penn Philosophy of Science Workshop, May 2014
What counts as niche construction?
• Penn Philosophy of Science Workshop, November 2013
In defense of superorganisms
• Penn Philosophy of Science Workshop, May 2013
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TEACHING__________________________________________________________________
As Sole Instructor
Fall 2016
Fall 2016
Environmental Ethics, University of Pennsylvania
(introductory undergraduate level)
Environmental Ethics, St. Joseph’s University
(introductory undergraduate level)
As Teaching Assistant (grading and teaching sections):
Traditional Courses
Spring 2015
Fall 2014
Spring 2014
Fall 2013
Philosophy of Social Science (instructor: Dr. Jan Willem Lindemans)
Biomedical Ethics (instructor: Dr. Andrew Mcaninch)
The Social Contract (instructor: Prof. Kok-Chor Tan)
Knowledge and Reality (instructor: Prof. Daniel Singer)
Online Courses
Summer 2016
Fall 2014
Introduction to Philosophy (instructor: Dr. Gary Purpura)
Revolutionary Ideas (instructor: Dr. Alex Guerrero)
Guest Lectures
Fall 2015
Fall 2015
Fall 2015
Fall 2014
Fall 2014
Spring 2014
“Experiments, simulations, and observations.” (Philosophy of science)
“Species concepts” (Philosophy of biology)
“Speciation” (Philosophy of biology)(
“The enlightenment case against God.” (Introduction to Philosophy)
“A solution to the problem of evil?” (Introduction to Philosophy)
“The Communist Manifesto” (The Social Contract)
SERVICE_____________________________________________________________________
Referee for:
2016-present
2015-present
2014-2015
April 2014
2013-2014
2013-2015
April 2013
Philosophy of Science, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science,
Philosophy of Biology
Graduate Representative to the faculty, Penn Philosophy Department
Co-leader, Philosophy Club at Philadelphia Futures (college readiness and
success program for underserved students)
Research Assistant, University of Pennsylvania's Social Responsibility
Advisory Committee (SRAC)
Organizing Committee, Penn-Rutgers-Princeton Social Epistemology
Workshop
Departmental Representative, Penn School of Arts and Sciences Graduate
Student Government
Coordinator, Penn Philosophy of Science Reading Group
Session Chair, Penn-Rutgers-Princeton Social Epistemology Workshop
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OTHER ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY___________________________
2016-present
2015-present
2013-2015
2013-2015
Member of the Computational Social Philosophy Lab
Member of the Penn Laboratory for Understanding Evolution
Member of Timothy Linksvayer’s Social Evolution Laboratory (Penn
Biology Department)
Graduate Associate, Harrison College House
COURSEWORK_______________________________________________________________
*=Audit
Philosophy of Science
Philosophy of Biology (Michael Weisberg)
Philosophy of Science (Michael Weisberg)
Biological Concepts of Race* (Michael Weisberg)
Biology
Advanced Evolution (Joshua Plotkin and Paul Sniegowski)
Advanced Ecology (Brent Helliker and Erol Ackay)
Evolutionary Ecology* (Timothy Linksvayer)
Political Philosophy
Topics in Philosophy of Law: Political Authority and Obligation (Stephen Perry)
Topics in Political Philosophy: (Kok-Chor Tan)
Topics in Philosophy of Law: Epistemology and Democracy* (Alexander Guerrero)
Expertise: It's Nature and Uses* (Alexander Guerrero)
History of Philosophy
Kant I: Critique of Pure Reason* (Rolf Horstmann)
Continental Rationalism (Karen Detlefsen)
Aristotle’s Theoretical Philosophy (Susan Sauve Meyer)
Origins of Analytic Philosophy (Joshua Armstrong)
Other
Proseminar (Elisabeth Camp)
Formal Logic (Scott Weinstein)
Topics in Philosophy of Psychology: Epistemic Realism (Gary Hatfield)
Topics in Epistemology (Daniel Singer)
Contemporary Ethics: Metaethical Rationalism* (Errol Lord)
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PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS______________________________________________
American Philosophical Association (APA)
International Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology (ISHPSSB)
Philosophy of Science Association (PSA)
REFERENCES________________________________________________________________
Michael Weisberg
Professor of Philosophy
University of Pennsylvania
215.898.0417
[email protected]
Timothy Linksvayer
Assistant Professor of Biology
University of Pennsylvania
215.573.2657
[email protected]
Quayshawn Spencer
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
University of Pennsylvania
215.573.5120
[email protected]
Matthew Haber
Associate Professor of Philosophy
University of Utah
530.848.5579
[email protected]
Alexander Guerrero
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Rutgers University
646.250.1375
[email protected]
Daniel Singer (Teaching)
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
University of Pennsylvania
920.474.6437
[email protected]
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DISSERTATION SUMMARY___________________________________________________
Biologists have a long history of arguing about the relative importance of organisms and
environments in driving evolution. Do organisms passively respond to their environments or actively
shape them? Is the environment a filter that removes the least fit organisms from each generation, or
also a source of new traits? The most recent incarnation of these debates focuses on developmental
plasticity, a developing organism's sensitivity to environmental inputs. All organisms are plastic to
some degree. Many can change their sex, morphology, and behavior in response to their
environments. The question for biologists is, does the widespread presence of developmental
plasticity mean new traits can originate in response to new environmental conditions, and prior to
genetic changes? According to one influential hypothesis, plasticity is a significant source of novel
traits in evolution. I make three arguments regarding this plasticity-first hypothesis. First, that it has
revisionary implications for evolutionary theory. Second, that confirming the hypothesis will require
biologists to shift their methodological priorities. Third, that the ongoing debate about the hypothesis
is scientifically productive.
I argue that if plasticity is a source of novel traits in evolution, we should revise our theory of
biological inheritance. In particular, we should abandon the common view that the most important
extra-genetic inheritance mechanisms (inheritance mechanisms other than DNA transmission) are
the ones that are most similar to DNA transmission. The common view is wrong because plasticity
allows for two kinds of inheritance mechanisms: those that pass on adapted developmental resources,
such as genes and epigenetic marks, and those that pass on non-adapted resources, such as habitats.
These two kinds of inheritance play different evolutionary roles, and biologists have ignored a
potentially important class of evolutionary process by focusing so much on the paradigm case. In
this, as in other instances, science must proceed with caution when taking one process as the
paradigm for understanding others.
The plasticity-first hypothesis has been a source of controversy among biologists for several
decades. Despite plenty of new data, the main points of disagreement in the debate have hardly
shifted. I show that the debate suffers from an underdetermination problem, that is, the present state
of the evidence is not sufficient to confirm or disconfirm the hypothesis. This problem arises because
of the tremendous difficulties associated with uncovering evidence about the details of ancient
evolutionary processes. I argue that at present, biologists are looking for the wrong kind of evidence,
and I offer a way to break this longstanding impasse. To uncover evidence that can resolve the
debate, biologists need to make use of a richer set of methodological resources, especially formal
modeling and experimental evolution. The strategy I propose is also a promising one for resolving
stubborn underdetermination problems in other areas of science.
The debate about plasticity in evolution is an example of a particular kind of scientific
controversy called a relative significance controversy. A relative significance controversy is a
scientific disagreement about how to weight the importance of multiple hypotheses that are all part of
the explanation of a given class of phenomena. A famous example is the controversy over the relative
importance of genes and the environment in determining IQ. Many philosophers and scientists are
skeptical about the value of these controversies. They think precise estimates of the importance of
genes relative to IQ, or of plasticity-first evolution relative to gene-first evolution, are not
scientifically interesting. I respond to their skepticism by offering two reasons to think relative
significance controversies are valuable and productive. First, they help scientists identify a kind of
underdetermination problem called contrast failure. Second, they are scientists' way of determining
the scope of causal patterns, a task that is central to scientific explanation.
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