Reflections on Science and Evolution

This book discusses and answers several long-standing and intriguing questions about science: What is science? What are its unique features compared to other forms of knowledge about the world? What are its relationships with other forms of knowledge? Should it play a decisive role in politics? What is the future of our species? What are the ethical and ontological consequences of interventions in evolution? Authored by Andrés Moya, the prestigious thinker, popularizer, and researcher, it answers the big questions about knowledge, evolution, and science. By carrying out a series of reflections on the future of the species, the ethical and ontological consequences of interventions on ourselves and the construction of entities that pretend to emulate us, the book provides a great read for all those who want to approach science as a form of knowledge or seek answers to the big questions from the perspective of science.

Andrés Moya studied Biology and Philosophy simultaneously at the University of Valencia (Spain), obtaining a Ph.D. in Biology in 1983 and a Ph.D. in Philosophy, with extraordinary award, in 1988. He was a Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California (Davis, USA, 1984-1985), invited Professor at the University of California (Irvine, USA, 1998, 1994) and Fulbright invited Professor at Harvard University (Cambridge, USA, 2019). In 1986, he created the Evolutionary Genetics Research Group at the Department of Genetics of the University of Valencia, where he has been a Professor of Genetics since 1993. Prof. Moya was the promoter of the Cavanilles Institut of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Valencia, the Astrobiology Center (CSIC-INTA), the Public Health Research Center (CSISP), now integrated into the Foundation for the Promotion of Health and Biomedical Research of the Valencian Community (FISABIO) and the Integrative Systems Biology Institute (the University of Valencia and Spanish Research Council). Currently, he chairs an Institutional Professorship between FISABIO and the University of Valencia. Prof. Moya is the author of more than seven hundred publications about Genetics, Evolution, and Philosophy of Biology. He is studying the Human and Animal Microbiome from an Evolutionary and System Biology perspective. Prof. Moya is a founding member of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology, the Spanish Society of Virology, and the Spanish Society of Evolutionary Biology, of which he was president (2009-2018). He received the “City of Barcelona” award of Scientific Research (1996), the “Medical Diary” Award (2006), “Diploma to the Excellence in Biomedical Research in the Valencian Region” (2010), the “National Award of Genetics” (2012), the “Lilly Award in Biomedical Research” (2013), the “México Award in Science and Technology” (2015), the award “Andrés Laguna Master” from University of Alcalá and Lilly Foundation (2019), and Alberto Sols Award for Research in Health Sciences (2022). Prof. Moya is Dr. Honoris Causa from Menéndez Pelayo International University (2016). He has been a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAs) since 1998.