Biological reproduction is a fundamental concept in the life sciences, structuring evolutionary explanations, defining the continuity of life and underpinning the notion of biological individuality. However, despite its centrality, reproduction remains noticeably under-theorized, as it has rarely been examined as a theoretical object in its own right. Instead, it is often treated instrumentally, as a mechanism for explaining heredity or adaptive evolution. As a result, dominant frameworks tend to reduce reproduction to processes of transmission or replication, marginalizing its material organization, relational dynamics, developmental integration, and normative dimensions.

This project develops a philosophical framework for understanding biological reproduction as a relational and organismal phenomenon. Drawing on recent work in evolutionary developmental biology, microbiology, symbiosis research, autonomy theory, and contemporary philosophy of biology, it proposes a shift from transmission-centered accounts toward a view of reproduction that focuses on its organismal and relational dimensions. On this account, reproduction is understood not merely as the passing on of traits or information, but as a dynamic, scaffolded process through which new biological systems are generated, stabilized, and transformed over time. By taking reproduction itself as the focal object of analysis, this project contributes to a more integrative understanding of how life persists, individuates, and reorganizes across generations, with implications for evolutionary theory, developmental biology, philosophy of medicine, and the conceptual foundations of the life sciences.