•  41
    Historicity and explanation
    Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 80 47-55. 2020.
  •  36
    Pluralism, Normative Naturalism, and Biological Taxonomy
    PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1994 382-389. 1994.
    Several authors have argued for taxonomic pluralism in biology -the position that there is a plurality of equally legitimate classifications of the organic world. Others have objected that such pluralism boils down to a position of anything goes. This paper offers a response to the anything goes objection by showing how one can be a discerning pluralist. In particular, methodological standards for choosing taxonomic projects are derived using Laudan's normative naturalism. This paper also sheds …Read more
  •  36
    Individuality and Macroevolutionary Theory
    PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1988. 1988.
    A number of authors have argued that the thesis that species are individuals has important implications for macroevolutionary theory. More specifically, some authors claim that the thesis lends support to the Theory of Punctuated Equilibrium and indicates the existence of species selection. In this paper, I argue that the alleged individuality of species is neither necessary nor sufficient for the truth of that theory or for the existence of species selection. I also argue, contrary to the claim…Read more
  •  30
    Follow the leader : local interactions with influence neighborhoods (review)
    with Mohan Matthen, Matthew H. Slater, Alex Rosenberg, D. M. Kaplan, Kevin Js Zollman, Peter Vanderschraaf, J. McKenzie Alexander, and Gordon Belot
    Philosophy of Science 72 (1): 86-113. 2005.
    We introduce a dynamic model for evolutionary games played on a network where strategy changes are correlated according to degree of influence between players. Unlike the notion of stochastic stability, which assumes mutations are stochastically independent and identically distributed, our framework allows for the possibility that agents correlate their strategies with the strategies of those they trust, or those who have influence over them. We show that the dynamical properties of evolutionary…Read more
  •  28
    The Disorder of Things (review)
    Canadian Journal of Philosophy 25 (1): 143-158. 1995.
  •  27
    The Disorder of Things (review)
    Canadian Journal of Philosophy 25 (1): 143-158. 1995.
  •  27
    Names, numbers and indentations: a guide to post-Linnaean taxonomy
    Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 32 (2): 361-383. 2001.
  •  24
    The metaphysics of evolution (review)
    Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 22 (3): 525-532. 1991.
  •  23
    Linnaean Ranks: Vestiges of a Bygone Era
    Philosophy of Science 69 (S3). 2002.
    We tend to think that there are different types of biological taxa: some taxa are species, others are genera, while others are families. Linnaeus gave us his ranks in 1731. Biological theory has changed since Linnaeus's time. Nevertheless, the vast majority of biologists still assign Linnaean ranks to taxa, even though that practice is at odds with evolutionary theory and even though it causes a number of practical problems. The Linnaean ranks should be abandoned and alternative methods for disp…Read more
  •  13
  •  11
    Consilience, Historicity, and the Species Problem
    In R. Paul Thompson & Denis Walsh (eds.), Evolutionary biology: conceptual, ethical, and religious issues, Cambridge University Press. pp. 65-86. 2014.
  •  7
    Toward a New Philosophy of Biology
    Philosophy of Science 57 (4): 725-727. 1990.
  •  5
    Systematics and Taxonomy
    In Sarkar Sahotra & Anya Plutynski (eds.), A Companion to the Philosophy of Biology, Blackwell. 2007.
    This chapter contains section titled: Introduction The Ontological Nature of Species Taxonomic Pluralism Two Major Schools of Biological Taxonomy The Linnaean Hierarchy References Further Reading.
  •  5
    Ethnobiological kinds and material grounding: comments on Ludwig
    European Journal for Philosophy of Science 14 (1): 1-10. 2024.
    In a recent article, David Ludwig proposed to reorient the debate on natural kinds away from inquiring into the naturalness of kinds and toward elucidating the materiality of kinds. This article responds to Ludwig’s critique of a recently proposed account of kinds and classification, the Grounded Functionality Account, against which Ludwig offsets his own account, and criticizes Ludwig’s proposal to shift focus from naturalness to materiality in the philosophy of kinds and classification.
  •  1
    Individuality and Macroevolutionary Theory
    PSA Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1988 (1): 216-222. 1988.
    The issue of whether species are individuals is now an old one; the literature abounds with arguments, counter-arguments and counter-counter-arguments for their individuality. The question I want to take up in this paper is not whether species are indeed individuals, but what ramifications their alleged individuality has for macroevolutionary theory.According to those biologists who argue for a new theory of macroevolution, the individuality of species is one of the fundamental premises of that …Read more
  •  1
    Traditionally, species have been treated by biologists and philosophers as natural kinds. However, this conception of species has posed several problems for evolutionary theory. For example, biologists have been hard pressed to find traits had by all and only the members of a species. This has caused some philosophers to doubt that evolutionary theory is a scientific theory. ;In an effort to resolve such problems, Michael Ghiselin and David Hull have argued that species are not kinds but individ…Read more
  •  1
    The Units of Evolution: Essays on the Nature of Species
    Journal of the History of Biology 25 (3): 500-501. 1992.
  • The Units of Evolution: Essays on the Nature of Species
    with Peter James
    History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 16 (2): 355. 1994.
  • The grounded functionality account of natural kinds
    In William C. Bausman, Janella K. Baxter & Oliver M. Lean (eds.), From biological practice to scientific metaphysics, University of Minnesota Press. 2023.