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Robert A. Wilson

University of Western Australia
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  •  289
    Test cases, resolvability, and group selection: A critical examination of the myxoma case
    Philosophy of Science 71 (3): 380-401. 2004.
    The evolution of the myxoma virus in Australia has been presented for many years as a test case for the hypothesis that group selection can function effectively `in the wild.' This paper critically examines the myxoma case, and argues that its failure as a test case for this hypothesis has broader implications for debates over the levels of selection
    Group SelectionThe Turing Test
  •  566
    Realization
    with Carl F. Craver
    In P. Thagard (ed.), Handbook of the Philosophy of Psychology and Cognitive Science, Elsevier. 2006.
    For the greater part of the last 50 years, it has been common for philosophers of mind and cognitive scientists to invoke the notion of realization in discussing the relationship between the mind and the brain. In traditional philosophy of mind, mental states are said to be realized, instantiated, or implemented in brain states. Artificial intelligence is sometimes described as the attempt either to model or to actually construct systems that realize some of the same psychological abilities that…Read more
    Realization, MiscMechanistic RealizationFunctional Realization