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31Darwin’s Methodological EvolutionJournal of the History of Biology 38 (1): 85-99. 2005.A necessary condition for having a revolution named after you is that you are an innovator in your field. I argue that if Charles Darwin meets this condition, it is as a philosopher and methodologist. In 1991, I made the case for Darwin's innovative use of "thought experiment" in the "Origin." Here I place this innovative practice in the context of Darwin's methodological commitments, trace its origins back into Darwin's notebooks, and pursue Darwin's suggestion that it owes its inspiration to C…Read more
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13Accentuate the negative: Locating possibility in Darwin’s ‘long argument’Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 87 (C): 147-157. 2021.
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1BibliographyIn Mary Louise Gill & James G. Lennox (eds.), Self-Motion: From Aristotle to Newton, Princeton University Press. pp. 333-342. 2017.
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16Aristotle on the Generation of Animals: A Philosophical StudyJohannes MorsinkIsis 74 (3): 440-441. 1983.
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116Aristotle on the Emergence of Material Complexity: Meteorology IV and Aristotle’s BiologyHopos: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science 4 (2): 272-305. 2014.In this article I defend an account of Meteorology IV as providing a material-level causal account of the emergence of uniform materials with a wide range of dispositional properties not found at the level of the four elements—the emergence of material complexity. I then demonstrate that this causal account is used in the Generation of Animals and Parts of Animals as part of the explanation of the generation of the uniform parts (tissues) and of their role in providing nonuniform parts (organs) …Read more
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24Aristotle on the Generation of Animals: A Philosophical Study by Johannes Morsink (review)Isis 74 440-441. 1983.
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142Aristotle on Norms of InquiryHopos: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science 1 (1): 23-46. 2011.Where does Aristotle stand in the debate between rationalism and empiricism? The locus classicus on this question, Posterior Analytics II. 19, seems clearly empiricist. Yet many commentators have resisted this conclusion. Here, I review their arguments and conclude that they rest in part on expectations for this text that go unfulfilled. I argue that this is because his views about norms of empirical inquiry are in the rich methodological passages in his scientific treatises. In support of this …Read more
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102Aristotle on the unity and disunity of scienceInternational Studies in the Philosophy of Science 15 (2). 2001.This Article does not have an abstract
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64Aristotle on genera, species, and?the more and the less?Journal of the History of Biology 13 (2): 321-346. 1980.
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3AbbreviationsIn Mary Louise Gill & James G. Lennox (eds.), Self-Motion: From Aristotle to Newton, Princeton University Press. 2017.
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16Explanatory Structures: A Study of Concepts of Explanation in Early Physics and PhilosophyPhilosophy of Science 46 (4): 652-654. 1979.
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88The darwin/gray correspondence 1857–1869: An intelligent discussion about chance and designPerspectives on Science 18 (4): 456-479. 2010.This essay outlines one aspect of a larger collaboration with John Beatty and Alan Love.2 The project’s focus is philosophical, but for reasons that will become clear momentarily, the method of approach is historical. All three of us share the conviction that philosophical issues concerning the foundations of the sciences are often illuminated by investigating their history. It is my hope that this paper both provides support for that thesis, and illustrates it. The focal philosophical issue can…Read more
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52The complexity of Aristotle's study of animalsIn Christopher John Shields (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Aristotle, Oxford University Press Usa. pp. 287. 2012.Aristotle is the first person in the history of science to see the study of nature as an articulated complex of interrelated, yet somewhat autonomous, investigations. Understanding why goes to the heart of what is philosophically distinctive about him. Why does Aristotle present the investigation of “the common cause of animal motion” as distinct and independent from a study of the causes of the different forms of animal locomotion, the announced project of De incessu animalium? This article exa…Read more
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78The Causality of Finite Modes in Spinoza's "Ethics"Canadian Journal of Philosophy 6 (3). 1976.A central difficulty in the way of understanding Spinoza's metaphysical system is that of reconciling two apparently contradictory theories of the causation of finite modes found in his Ethics. The easiest way to present the problem is to place these two accounts side by side.A. All things which follow from the absolute nature of any attribute of God must forever exist, and must be infinite; that is to say, through that attribute they are eternal and infinite. A thing which has been determined t…Read more
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165Teleology, chance, and Aristotle's theory of spontaneous generationJournal of the History of Philosophy 20 (3): 219-238. 1982.
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28Robert Boyle's Defense of Teleological Inference in Experimental ScienceIsis 74 (1): 38-52. 1983.
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4PrefaceIn Mary Louise Gill & James G. Lennox (eds.), Self-Motion: From Aristotle to Newton, Princeton University Press. 2017.
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14On the Movement and Progression of Animals (review)International Studies in Philosophy 17 (3): 81-82. 1985.
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30Most Natural Among the Functions of Living ThingsIn Giouli Korobili & Roberto Lo Presti (eds.), Nutrition and Nutritive Soul in Aristotle and Aristotelianism, De Gruyter. pp. 1-20. 2020.
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3Index LocorumIn Mary Louise Gill & James G. Lennox (eds.), Self-Motion: From Aristotle to Newton, Princeton University Press. pp. 343-356. 2017.