Animal behaviour: a perspective and an agenda

This communication will have two distinct aims. Firstly, it is intent to introduce my work in the area of philosophy of science to the members of the Laboratory I joined last November. I will briefly present my two main research themes, namely 1° the difficulty to define a scientific object such as animal behavior, and 2° scientific reasoning in biology, as they have been introduced in the PhD thesis I defended last year (Epistémologie historique de l'étude du comportement animal). Secondly, this communication also aims to convince the audience about the relevance and the potential utility of philosophy of science for the practice of science.