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27Chapter Three. Evolution and Natural SelectionIn Philosophy of Biology, Princeton University Press. pp. 28-49. 2013.
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25Chapter Two. Laws, Mechanisms, and ModelsIn Philosophy of Biology, Princeton University Press. pp. 11-27. 2013.
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25Chapter Four. Adaptation, Construction, FunctionIn Philosophy of Biology, Princeton University Press. pp. 50-65. 2013.
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25Learning and the biology of consciousness: a commentary on Birch, Ginsburg, and JablonkaBiology and Philosophy 36 (5): 1-4. 2021.Birch, Ginsburg, and Jablonka suggest that Unlimited Associative Learning is a “transition marker” in the evolutionary process that produced consciousness, and organizes research by tying together a range of “hallmarks” of consciousness. I argue that the features they recognize as “hallmarks” are indeed important in the evolution of consciousness, but UAL may have a more limited role.
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25On the Evolution of Behavioral Heterogeneity in Individuals and PopulationsBiology and Philosophy 13 (2): 205-231. 1998.A wide range of ecological and evolutionary models predict variety in phenotype or behavior when a population is at equilibrium. This heterogeneity can be realized in different ways. For example, it can be realized through a complex population of individuals exhibiting different simple behaviors, or through a simple population of individuals exhibiting complex, varying behaviors. In some theoretical frameworks these different realizations are treated as equivalent, but natural selection distingu…Read more
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21The Dimensions of SelectionPhilosophy of Science 60 (3): 373-395. 1993.Proponents of genic selectionism have claimed that evolutionary processes normally viewed as selection on individuals can be "represented" as selection on alleles. This paper discusses the relationship between mathematical questions about the formal requirements upon state spaces necessary for the representation of different types of evolutionary processes and causal questions about the units of selection in such processes
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20The Dual Landscape Model of Adaptation and Niche ConstructionPhilosophy of Science 87 (3): 478-498. 2020.Wright’s “adaptive landscape” has been influential in evolutionary thinking but controversial, especially because the landscape that organisms encounter is altered by the evolutionary process itsel...
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20Chapter Seven. Species and the Tree of LifeIn Philosophy of Biology, Princeton University Press. pp. 100-119. 2013.
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19Meaning, Models and Selection (review)Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 56 (3): 673-678. 1996.
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18On the Evolution of Representational and Interpretive CapacitiesThe Monist 85 (1): 50-69. 2002.How did our capacities mentally to represent the world evolve? Here is one kind of answer: To represent the world is to have a special kind of wiring inside your head, and special physical connections between that wiring and the world. How do organisms come to have that kind of wiring? Both evolution and individual learning are involved, but there has at least to be an evolutionary explanation of how some organisms acquired the capacity to wire themselves up as representers. This evolutionary st…Read more
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15Covid heterodoxy in three layersMonash Bioethics Review 40 (1): 17-39. 2021.Lockdowns and related policies of behavioral and economic restriction introduced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic are criticized, drawing on three sets of ideas and arguments that are organized in accordance with the likely degree of controversy associated with their guiding assumptions. The first set of arguments makes use of cost–benefit reasoning within a broadly utilitarian framework, emphasizing uncertainty, the role of worst-case scenarios, and the need to consider at least the medium …Read more
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15The Evolution of Agency and Other EssaysCambridge University Press. 2000.This book presents a collection of linked essays written by one of the leading philosophers of biology, Kim Sterelny, on the topic of biological evolution. The first half of the book explores most of the main theoretical controversies about evolution and selection. Sterelny argues that genes are not the only replicators: non-genetic inheritance is also extremely important, and is no mere epiphenomenon of gene selection. The second half of the book applies some of these ideas in considering cogni…Read more
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1312. John Dewey’s Experience and NatureIn Michael Hampe (ed.), John Dewey: Erfahrung Und Natur, De Gruyter. pp. 175-186. 2017.
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13Metazoa: animal minds and the birth of consciousnessWilliam Collins. 2020.Expands an inquiry to animals at large, investigating the evolution of experience with the assistance of far-flung species. Godfrey-Smith shows that the appearance of the first animal body form well over half a billion years ago was a profound innovation that set life upon a new path.
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11Some central ideas associated with developmental systems theory are outlined for non-specialists. These ideas concern the nature of biological development, the alleged distinction between “genetic” and “environmental” traits, the relations between organism and environment, and evolutionary processes. I also discuss some criticisms of the DST approach.
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10Some central ideas associated with developmental systems theory are outlined for non-specialists. These ideas concern the nature of biological development, the alleged distinction between “genetic” and “environmental” traits, the relations between organism and environment, and evolutionary processes. I also discuss some criticisms of the DST approach.
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10Knowledge, Trade‐Offs, and Tracking TruthPhilosophy and Phenomenological Research 79 (1): 231-239. 2009.
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10Book review: explaining chaos (review)British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 52 (1): 201-205. 2001.Review of: Peter Smith, Explaining chaos. Cambridge: Cambridge univeristy Press, 1998. ISBN 0 521 47747 6.
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9Chapter Eight. Evolution and Social BehaviorIn Philosophy of Biology, Princeton University Press. pp. 120-143. 2013.
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8Chapter Nine. InformationIn Philosophy of Biology, Princeton University Press. pp. 144-158. 2013.
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8Representationalism ReconsideredIn Dominic Murphy & Michael Bishop (eds.), Stich, Wiley‐blackwell. 2009-03-20.This chapter contains sections titled: Introduction The Basic Representationalist Model Model‐based Theorizing and Homuncular Functionalism Other Pieces of the Picture “Look, Mr Dalton …” References.
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8Some central ideas associated with developmental systems theory are outlined for non-specialists. These ideas concern the nature of biological development, the alleged distinction between “genetic” and “environmental” traits, the relations between organism and environment, and evolutionary processes. I also discuss some criticisms of the DST approach.
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8Knowledge, Trade‐Offs, and Tracking TruthPhilosophy and Phenomenological Research 79 (1): 231-239. 2009.
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8Some central ideas associated with developmental systems theory are outlined for non-specialists. These ideas concern the nature of biological development, the alleged distinction between “genetic” and “environmental” traits, the relations between organism and environment, and evolutionary processes. I also discuss some criticisms of the DST approach.