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140Functional homology and homology of function: Biological concepts and philosophical consequencesBiology and Philosophy 22 (5): 691-708. 2007.“Functional homology” appears regularly in different areas of biological research and yet it is apparently a contradiction in terms—homology concerns identity of structure regardless of form and function. I argue that despite this conceptual tension there is a legitimate conception of ‘homology of function’, which can be recovered by utilizing a distinction from pre-Darwinian physiology (use versus activity) to identify an appropriate meaning of ‘function’. This account is directly applicable to…Read more
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33Idealization in evolutionary developmental investigation: a tension between phenotypic plasticity and normal stagesPhilosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 365. 2010.Idealization is a reasoning strategy that biologists use to describe, model and explain that purposefully departs from features known to be present in nature. Similar to other strategies of scientific reasoning, idealization combines distinctive strengths alongside of latent weaknesses. The study of ontogeny in model organisms is usually executed by establishing a set of normal stages for embryonic development, which enables researchers in different laboratory contexts to have standardized compa…Read more
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64ChINs, swarms, and variational modalities: concepts in the service of an evolutionary research program: Günter P. Wagner: Homology, Genes, and Evolutionary Innovation. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2014. 496 pp, $60.00, £41.95 . ISBN 978-0-691-15646-0Biology and Philosophy 30 (6): 873-888. 2015.Günter Wagner’s Homology, Genes, and Evolutionary Innovation collects and synthesizes a vast array of empirical data, theoretical models, and conceptual analysis to set out a progressive research program with a central theoretical commitment: the genetic theory of homology. This research program diverges from standard approaches in evolutionary biology, provides sharpened contours to explanations of the origin of novelty, and expands the conceptual repertoire of evolutionary developmental biolog…Read more
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19Evolutionary morphology and evo-devo: hierarchy and noveltyTheory in Biosciences 124. 2006.Although the role of morphology in evolutionary theory remains a subject of debate, assessing the contributions of morphological investigation to evolutionary developmental biology (Evo-devo) is a more circumscribed issue of direct relevance to ongoing research. Historical studies of morphologically oriented researchers and the formation of the Modern Synthesis in the Anglo-American context identify a recurring theme: the synthetic theory of evolution did not capture multiple levels of biologica…Read more
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38Reflections on the Middle Stages of EvoDevo’s OntogenyBiological Theory 1 (1): 94-97. 2006.Evolutionary developmental biology (or developmental evolution) is in the middle stages of its “development.” Its early ontogeny cannot be traced back to fertilization but pivotal developmental events included Gould’s (1977) treatment of heterochrony, Riedl’s (1978) analysis of “burden”, the Dahlem conference of 1981, a British Society of Developmental Biologists Symposium, as well as books that incorporated developmental genetics into older comparative themes. A major inductive process began wi…Read more
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47The return of the embryoBiology and Philosophy 20 (2-3): 567-584. 2005.Review by Alan Love of "Keywords & Concepts in Evolutionary Developmental Biology." Hall, Brian K. and Wendy M. Olson (Eds), Cambridge, Harvard University Press. Hb. 476+xvi pp.
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32ReductionIn Paul Humphreys (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Science, Oxford University Press Usa. pp. 460-484. 2016.Reduction and reductionism have been central philosophical topics in analytic philosophy of science for more than six decades. Together they encompass a diversity of issues from metaphysics and epistemology. This article provides an introduction to the topic that illuminates how contemporary epistemological discussions took their shape historically and limns the contours of concrete cases of reduction in specific natural sciences. The unity of science and the impulse to accomplish compositional …Read more
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10Revolutionary evo-devo? (review)Journal of the History of Biology 40. 2007.Essay review of David Arnold, "The Tropics and the Traveling Gaze: India, Landscape, and Science, 1800-1856" (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2006), xiv + 298 pp., illus.
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109Philosophical Dimensions of IndividualityIn Scott Lidgard & Lynn K. Nyhart (eds.), Biological Individuality: Integrating Scientific, Philosophical, and Historical Perspectives, University of Chicago Press. pp. 318-348. 2017.Although natural philosophers have long been interested in individuality, it has been of interest to contemporary philosophers of biology because of its role in different aspects of evolutionary biology. These debates include whether species are individuals or classes, what counts as a unit of selection, and how transitions in individuality occur evolutionarily. Philosophical analyses are often conducted in terms of metaphysics (“what is an individual?”), rather than epistemology (“how can and d…Read more
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15Morphological and paleontological perspectives for a history of evo-devoIn M. Laubichler & J. Maienschein (eds.), From Embryology to Evo-Devo: A History of Developmental Evolution, Mit Press. 2007.Exploring history pertinent to evolutionary developmental biology (hereafter, Evo-devo) is an exciting prospect given its current status as a cutting-edge field of research. The first and obvious question concerns where to begin searching for materials and sources. Since this new discipline adopts a moniker that intentionally juxtaposes ‘evolution’ and development’, individuals, disciplines, and institutional contexts relevant to the history of evolutionary studies and investigations of ontogeny…Read more
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115Evolutionary morphology, innovation, and the synthesis of evolutionary and developmental biologyBiology and Philosophy 18 (2): 309-345. 2003.One foundational question in contemporarybiology is how to `rejoin evolution anddevelopment. The emerging research program(evolutionary developmental biology or`evo-devo) requires a meshing of disciplines,concepts, and explanations that have beendeveloped largely in independence over the pastcentury. In the attempt to comprehend thepresent separation between evolution anddevelopment much attention has been paid to thesplit between genetics and embryology in theearly part of the 20th century with…Read more
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7Gene expression patterns in a novel animal appendage: The sea urchin pluteus armEvolution & Development 9. 2007.The larval arms of echinoid plutei are used for locomotion and feeding. They are composed of internal calcite skeletal rods covered by an ectoderm layer bearing a ciliary band. Skeletogenesis includes an autonomous molecular differentiation program in primary mesenchyme cells (PMCs), initiated when PMCs leave the vegetal plate for the blastocoel, and a patterning of the differentiated skeletal units that requires molecular cues from the overlaying ectoderm. The arms represent a larval feature th…Read more
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24Leibniz through the lens of life science (review)Journal of the History of Biology 45 (2): 367-371. 2012.A Review of Divine Machines: Leibniz and the Sciences of Life by Justin E.H. Smith, [2011]
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14Darwin’s functional reasoning and homologyIn M. Wheeler (ed.), 150 Years of Evolution: Darwin’s Impact on Contemporary Thought & Culture, Sdsu Press. 2011.Scientists exhibit different styles in their reasoning about the natural world (e.g., experimental, historical, or statistical). These styles have been characterized, categorized, and combined in many ways throughout the history of science.
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14Teaching evolutionary developmental biology: concepts, problems, and controversyIn K. Kampourakis (ed.), Philosophy of Biology: A Companion for Educators, Springer. pp. 323-341. 2013.Although sciences are often conceptualized in terms of theory confirmation and hypothesis testing, an equally important dimension of scientific reasoning is the structure of problems that guide inquiry. This problem structure is evident in several concepts central to evolutionary developmental biology (Evo-devo)—constraints, modularity, evolvability, and novelty. Because problems play an important role in biological practice, they should be included in biological pedagogy, especially when treati…Read more
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45Taking development seriously: Who, what, when, where, why, how? (review)Biology and Philosophy 21 (4): 575-589. 2006.
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294Evolvability, plausibility, and possibility (review)BioScience 56. 2006.Judgments of plausibility involve appearance of the truth or reasonableness, which is always a function of background knowledge. What anyone will countenance is conditioned by what they already know (or think they know). Marc Kirschner (professor of systems biology at Harvard) and John Gerhart (professor of molecular and cell biology at the University of California—Berkeley) aim to show that molecular, cellular, and developmental processes relevant to the generation of phenotypic variation in an…Read more
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26Lenny Moss: What Genes Can’t Do (review)Philosophy of Science 73 (2): 247-250. 2006.Philosophy of Science, 73 (April 2006) pp. 247–257. 0031-8248/2006/7302-0007$10.00 Copyright 2006 by the Philosophy of Science Association. All rights reserved. 247 BOOK REVIEWS Lenny Moss, What Genes Can’t Do . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press (2004), 256 pp., $21.00 (paper). Many philosophers of science will have encountered the core distinction between two different gene concepts found in What Genes Can’t Do . Moss argues that contemporary uses of the term ‘gene’ that denote an infor- ma…Read more
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35Interdisciplinary lessons for the teaching of biology from the practice of Evo-devoScience & Education 22 (2). 2013.Evolutionary developmental biology (Evo-devo) is a vibrant area of contemporary life science that should be (and is) increasingly incorporated into teaching curricula. Although the inclusion of this content is important for biological pedagogy at multiple levels of instruction, there are also philosophical lessons that can be drawn from the scientific practices found in Evo-devo. One feature of particular significance is the interdisciplinary nature of Evo-devo investigations and their resulting…Read more
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42Dimensions of integration in interdisciplinary explanations of the origin of evolutionary noveltyStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 44 (4): 537-550. 2013.Many philosophers of biology have embraced a version of pluralism in response to the failure of theory reduction but overlook how concepts, methods, and explanatory resources are in fact coordinated, such as in interdisciplinary research where the aim is to integrate different strands into an articulated whole. This is observable for the origin of evolutionary novelty—a complex problem that requires a synthesis of intellectual resources from different fields to arrive at robust answers to multip…Read more
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22Explaining the origins of multicellularity: between evolutionary dynamics and developmental mechanismsIn K. J. Niklas & S. A. Newman (eds.), Multicellularity: Origins and Evolution, Mit Press. 2016.Overview The evolution of multicellularity raises questions regarding genomic and developmental commonalities and discordances, selective advantages and disadvantages, physical determinants of development, and the origins of morphological novelties. It also represents a change in the definition of individuality, because a new organism emerges from interactions among single cells. This volume considers these and other questions, with contributions that explore the origins and consequences of the…Read more
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52Proceedings of the Pittsburgh Workshop in History and Philosophy of Biology, Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh, March 23-24 2001 Session 4: Evolutionary Indeterminism.
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13Developing a rhetorical account of explanation (review)Choice 52 (8): 4168. 2015.Book review of "The Nature of Scientific Thinking: on Interpretation, Explanation and Understanding" by J. Faye. The nature of scientific explanation is a central topic of interest to philosophers but the literature has metamorphosed from a coherent body of key papers and examples into narrow and specialized discussions in different scientific disciplines.
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57Alan C. LoveDarwinian calisthenicsAn athlete engages in calisthenics as part of basic training and as a preliminary to more advanced or intense activity. Whether it is stretching, lunges, crunches, or push-ups, routine calisthenics provide a baseline of strength and flexibility that prevent a variety of injuries that might otherwise be incurred. Peter Bowler has spent 40 years doing Darwinian calisthenics, researching and writing on the development of evolutionary ideas with special attention to…Read more
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8Fostering inquiry in nonlaboratory settingsJournal of College Science Teaching 34 39-43. 2004.Inquiry is an important learning strategy, even for students who cannot or do not perform actual experiments. The authors describe two activities, other than experimentation, that they used in introductory biology learning groups to emphasize inquiry abilities. They also provide recommendations for creating additional inquiry activities.
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87Rethinking the structure of evolutionary theory for an extended synthesisIn M. Pigliucci & G. Müller (eds.), Evolution—The Extended Synthesis, Mit Press. 2010.This chapter describes the theoretical implications of Extended Synthesis and addresses the methodological options available for determining aspects of theoretical structure. It uses a “bottom-up” approach focused on evolutionary theory in particular, as opposed to a “top-down” strategy that attempts to characterize the structure of all scientific theories. The chapter shows that there are multiple stable components contained within a broad representation of evolutionary theory. It suggests that…Read more
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34Philosophical Lessons from Scientific Biography (review)Philosophy of Science 78 (4): 696-701. 2011.Essay Review of The Tragic Sense of Life: Ernst Haeckel and the Struggle over Evolutionary Thought by Robert J. Richards [2009].
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30Marine invertebrates, model organisms, and the modern synthesis: epistemic values, evo-devo, and exclusionTheory in Biosciences 128. 2009.A central reason that undergirds the significance of evo-devo is the claim that development was left out of the Modern synthesis. This claim turns out to be quite complicated, both in terms of whether development was genuinely excluded and how to understand the different kinds of embryological research that might have contributed. The present paper reevaluates this central claim by focusing on the practice of model organism choice. Through a survey of examples utilized in the literature of the M…Read more
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