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174The Nature and Context of Exploratory Experimentation: An Introduction to Three Case Studies of Exploratory ResearchHistory and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 29 (3). 2007.My aim in this article is to introduce readers to the topic of exploratory experimentation and briefly explain how the three articles that follow, by Richard Burian, Kevin Elliott, and Maureen O'Malley, advance our understanding of the nature and significance of exploratory research. I suggest that the distinction between exploratory and theory-driven experimentation is multidimensional and that some of the dimensions are continuums. I point out that exploratory experiments are typically theory-…Read more
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74This chapter introduces a distinctive approach for scientific metaphysics. Instead of drawing metaphysical conclusions by interpreting the most basic theories of science, this approach draws metaphysical conclusions by analyzing how multifaceted practices of science work. Broadening attention opens the door to drawing metaphysical conclusions from a wide range of sciences. This chapter analyzes conceptual practice in genetics to argue that the reality investigated by biologists lacks an overall …Read more
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118Causal regularities in the biological world of contingent distributionsBiology and Philosophy 13 (1): 5-36. 1998.Former discussions of biological generalizations have focused on the question of whether there are universal laws of biology. These discussions typically analyzed generalizations out of their investigative and explanatory contexts and concluded that whatever biological generalizations are, they are not universal laws. The aim of this paper is to explain what biological generalizations are by shifting attention towards the contexts in which they are drawn. I argue that within the context of any p…Read more
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95Scientific Pluralism (edited book)Univ of Minnesota Press. 1956.Scientific pluralism is an issue at the forefront of philosophy of science. This landmark work addresses the question, Can pluralism be advanced as a general, philosophical interpretation of science?
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1Why the Anti-Reductionist Consensus Won’t Survive: The Case of Classical Mendelian GeneticsPSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1990 125-139. 1990.Philosophers now treat the relationship between classical genetics and molecular biology as a paradigm of nonreduction and this example is playing an increasingly prominent role in debates about the reducibility of theories in other sciences. This paper shows that the anti-reductionist consensus about genetics will not withstand serious scrutiny. In addition to defusing the main anti-reductionist objections, this critical analysis uncovers tell-tale signs of a significant reduction in progress. …Read more
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495 The arguments in the Origin of SpeciesIn J. Hodges & Gregory Radick (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Darwin, Cambridge University Press. pp. 116. 2003.
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155How practical know‐how contextualizes theoretical knowledge: Exporting causal knowledge from laboratory to naturePhilosophy of Science 75 (5): 707-719. 2008.Leading philosophical accounts presume that Thomas H. Morgan’s transmission theory can be understood independently of experimental practices. Experimentation is taken to be relevant to confirming, rather than interpreting, the transmission theory. But the construction of Morgan’s theory went hand in hand with the reconstruction of the chief experimental object, the model organism Drosophila melanogaster . This raises an important question: when a theory is constructed to account for phenomena in…Read more
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12The Pluralist StanceIn ¸ Itekellersetal:Sp, . 2006.This essay introduces the volume Scientific Pluralism (Volume 19 of Minnesota Studies in Philosophy of Science). Varieties of recent pluralisms are surveyed, the difference between monism and pluralism vis a vis the sciences is clarified, and the authors’ notion of scientific pluralism is advanced.
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117What Concept Analysis in Philosophy of Science Should BeHistory and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 26 (1): 29-58. 2004.What should philosophers of science accomplish when they analyze scientific concepts and interpret scientific knowledge? What is concept analysis if it is not a description of the way scientists actually think? I investigate these questions by using Hans Reichenbach's account of the descriptive, critical, and advisory tasks of philosophy of science to examine Karola Stotz and Paul Griffiths' idea that poll-based methodologies can test philosophical analyses of scientific concepts. Using Reichenb…Read more
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80Tempered realism about the force of selectionPhilosophy of Science 58 (4): 553-573. 1991.Darwinians are realists about the force of selection, but there has been surprisingly little discussion about what form this realism should take. Arguments about the units of selection in general and genic selectionism in particular reveal two realist assumptions: (1) for any selection process, there is a uniquely correct identification of the operative selective forces and the level at which each impinges; and (2) selective forces must satisfy the Pareto-style requirement of probabilistic causa…Read more
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60Natural selection without survival of the fittestBiology and Philosophy 1 (2): 207-225. 1986.Susan Mills and John Beatty proposed a propensity interpretation of fitness (1979) to show that Darwinian explanations are not circular, but they did not address the critics' chief complaint that the principle of the survival of the fittest is either tautological or untestable. I show that the propensity interpretation cannot rescue the principle from the critics' charges. The critics, however, incorrectly assume that there is nothing more to Darwin's theory than the survival of the fittest. Whi…Read more
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2Philosophical Perspectives on Causal Reasoning in Biology (edited book)University of Minnesota Press. forthcoming.
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Scientific Pluralism, Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science (Vol 19) (edited book)University of Minnesota Press. 2006.
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Areas of Interest
Metaphysics |
Philosophy of Biology |
General Philosophy of Science |