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1The Rise of Logical PositivismIn Robert Klee (ed.), Scientific Inquiry: Readings in the Philosophy of Science, Oxford University Press. pp. 10. 1999.
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26Is there an evolutionary biology of playIn Dale Jamieson & Marc Bekoff (eds.), Readings in Animal Cognition, Mit Press. pp. 217--228. 1996.
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1The problem of enforcementJournal of Consciousness Studies 7 (1-2): 1--236. 2000.For Sober and Wilson, the key to group selection is the persistence of within-group behaviours that are individually altruistic -- the so-called ‘primary behaviours'. In the absence of kin-relatedness, such primary behaviours will render the group liable to invasion by non-cooperative strategies unless ‘secondary behaviours’ are in place. Secondary behaviour must in effect make the costs of deviation from the primary altruistic behaviour greater than the benefits of deviation. The secondary beha…Read more
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1302 Disenchanted NaturalismIn Bana Bashour Hans Muller (ed.), Contemporary Philosophical Naturalism and its Implications, Routledge. pp. 13--17. 2013.
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1Intention and action among the macromoleculesIn Nicholas Rescher (ed.), Current Issues in Teleology, University Press of America. pp. 65--56. 1986.
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Towards the Assimilation of Rules to GeneralizationsIn William R. Shea (ed.), Basic Issues in the Philosophy of Science, Science History Publications. pp. 156. 1976.
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18Superceding Explanation Versus Understanding: The View from RortySocial Research: An International Quarterly 56. 1989.
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25Typologies: Obstacles and opportunities in scientific changeBehavioral and Brain Sciences 4 (2): 298-299. 1981.
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42Content and consciousness versus the International stanceBehavioral and Brain Sciences 6 (3): 375-376. 1983.
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14Fitness, reinforcement, underlying mechanismsBehavioral and Brain Sciences 7 (4): 495-496. 1984.
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14Is there really “juggling,” “artifice,” and “trickery” in Genes, Mind, and Culture?Behavioral and Brain Sciences 10 (1): 80-82. 1987.
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49Will the argument for abstracta please stand up?Behavioral and Brain Sciences 11 (3): 526. 1988.
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142Can There be A Priori Causal Models of Natural Selection?Australasian Journal of Philosophy 89 (4): 591-599. 2011.Sober 2011 argues that, contrary to Hume, some causal statements can be known a priori to be true—notably, some ‘would promote’ statements figuring in causal models of natural selection. We find Sober's argument unconvincing. We regard the Humean thesis as denying that causal explanations contain any a priori knowable statements specifying certain features of events to be causally relevant. We argue that not every ‘would promote’ statement is genuinely causal, and we suggest that Sober has not s…Read more
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41Will genomics do more for metaphysics than locke>In P. Achinstein (ed.), Scientific Evidence: Philosophical Theories & Applications, The Johns Hopkins University Press. 2005.
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149A Field Guide to Recent Species of NaturalismBritish Journal for the Philosophy of Science 47 (1): 1-29. 1996.This review of recent work in the philosophy of science motivated by a commitment to 'naturalism' begins by identifying three key axioms and one theorem shared by philosophers thus self-styled. Owing much to Quine and Ernest Nagel, these philosophers of science share a common agenda with naturalists elsewhere in philosophy. But they have disagreed among themselves about how the axioms and the theorems they share settle long-standing disputes in the philosophy of science. After expounding these d…Read more
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244Fitness as primitive and propensityPhilosophy of Science 53 (3): 412-418. 1986.In several places we have argued that ‘fitness’ is a primitive term with respect to the theory of evolution properly understood. These arguments have relied heavily on the axiomatization of the theory provided by one of us. In contrast, both John Beatty and Robert Brandon have separately argued for a “propensity“ interpretation of “fitness” ; and in Brandon and Beatty they attack our view that “fitness“ is a primitive term in evolutionary theory, concluding that a definition by way of propensiti…Read more
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23On Fodor's distinction between strong and weak equivalence in machine simulationPhilosophy of Science 40 (March): 118-120. 1973.
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92Strong, weak and functional equivalence in machine simulationPhilosophy of Science 41 (December): 412-414. 1974.
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314Naturalistic epistemology for eliminative materialistsPhilosophy and Phenomenological Research 59 (2): 335-358. 1999.This paper defends and extends Quine’s version of a naturalistic epistemology, and defends it against criticism, especially that offered by Kim, according to which Quine’s naturalism deprives epistemology of its normative role, and indeed of its relevance to psychological states, such as beliefs, whose warrant epistemology aims to assess. I defend Quinean epistemology’s objections to the epistemic pluralism associated with other self-styled naturalistic epistemologies, and show how recent theori…Read more
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37Equality, Sufficiency, and Opportunity in the Just SocietySocial Philosophy and Policy 12 (2): 54-71. 1995.It seems to be almost a given of contemporary Anglo-American political philosophy that the just society is obligated to establish and ensure the equality of its members. Debate begins when we come to delineate the forms and limits of the equality society is obligated to underwrite. In this essay I offer the subversive suggestion that equality is not something the just society should aim for. Instead I offer another objective, one which is to be preferred both because it is more attainable and be…Read more
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7Methodology, Theory and the Philosophy of SciencePacific Philosophical Quarterly 66 (3-4): 377-393. 2017.
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15Ruse's Treatment of the Evidence for Evolution: A ReconsiderationPSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1980. 1980.It is argued that the assessment of the strength of the evidence for the Darwinian theory of evolution by natural selection offered by Michael Ruse in the Philosophy of Biology is in one respect too weak and in the other too strong. His claim that artificial selection provides at best analogical evidence for the theory is shown to rest on a spurious distinction between artificial and natural selection. His argument that Darwinian theory, unlike its competitors, accounts for the cytological and g…Read more
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12Darwinism Today--And Tomorrow, but Not YesterdayPSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1984. 1984.The discussion of Darwinism's past--of what Charles Darwin wrote and thought--is crucial to an understanding of the history and philosophy of biology, but largely irrelevant to assessing its current warrant and its future prospects. In this paper the structure, and the credibility of the theory are defended against a variety of criticisms both of biologists and anti-Darwinians. It is argued that many features of the theory often treated as defects, like its generality and neutrality, its opennes…Read more
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Arizona State UniversityPhilosophy - School of Historical, Philosophical, and Religious StudiesProfessor (Part-time)
Durham, North Carolina, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Metaphysics |
Philosophy of Biology |
Philosophy of Social Science |