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46Homology and heterochrony: the evolutionary embryologist Gavin Rylands de Beer (1899-1972)Journal of Experimental Zoology (Molecular and Developmental Evolution) 306 (4): 317-328. 2006.The evolutionary embryologist Gavin Rylands de Beer can be viewed as one of the forerunners of modern evolutionary developmental biology in that he posed crucial questions and proposed relevant answers about the causal relationship between ontogeny and phylogeny. In his developmental approach to the phylogenetic phenomenon of homology, he emphasized that homology of morphological structures is to be identified neither with the sameness of the underlying developmental processes nor with the homol…Read more
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39A Theory of Conceptual Advance: Explaining Conceptual Change in Evolutionary, Molecular, and Evolutionary Developmental BiologyDissertation, University of Pittsburgh. 2006.The theory of concepts advanced in the dissertation aims at accounting for a) how a concept makes successful practice possible, and b) how a scientific concept can be subject to rational change in the course of history. Traditional accounts in the philosophy of science have usually studied concepts in terms only of their reference; their concern is to establish a stability of reference in order to address the incommensurability problem. My discussion, in contrast, suggests that each scientific c…Read more
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32Essay: HomologyThe Embryo Project Encyclopedia. 2011.Homology is a central concept of comparative and evolutionary biology, referring to the presence of the same bodily parts (e.g., morphological structures) in different species. The existence of homologies is explained by common ancestry, and according to modern definitions of homology, two structures in different species are homologous if they are derived from the same structure in the common ancestor. Homology has traditionally been contrasted with analogy, the presence of similar traits in dif…Read more
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31The Architecture of the Mind: Massive Modularity and the Flexibility of Thought by Peter Carruthers, Oxford University Press, 2006 (review)Philosophy in Review 28 (4): 246-248. 2008.
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30Biological SpeciesIn Kathrin Koslicki & Michael J. Raven (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Essence in Philosophy, Routledge. pp. 276-290. 2024.In the 1970s, the position that species are natural kinds characterized by essences came to be challenged, and was replaced by the view that species are individuals. To date, this remains the dominant position, at least among biologists, despite influential arguments that species can be construed as homeostatic property cluster kinds (employing a revised notion of essence). Recent philosophical discussions have broadened the scope by articulating a neo-Aristotelian essentialism for species, deve…Read more
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28Being Reduced: New Essays on Reduction, Explanation, and Causation edited by Jakob Hohwy and Jesper Kallestrup, Oxford University Press, 2008 (review)Philosophical Quarterly 60 (241): 873-875. 2010.
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26Against Unifying Homology Concepts: Redirecting the DebateJournal of Morphology 284 (7). 2023.The term ‘homology’ is persistently polysemous, defying the expectation that extensive scientific research should yield semantic stability. A common response has been to seek a unification of various prominent definitions. This paper proposes an alternative strategy, based on the insight that scientific concepts function as tools for research: When analyzing various conceptualizations of homology, we should preserve those distinguishing features that support particular research goals. We illustr…Read more
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18Evolutionary Novelty and the Evo-Devo Synthesis: Field NotesEvolutionary Biology 37 93-99. 2010.Accounting for the evolutionary origins of morphological novelty is one of the core challenges of contemporary evolutionary biology. A successful explanatory framework requires the integration of different biological disciplines, but the relationships between developmental biology and standard evolutionary biology remain contested. There is also disagreement about how to define the concept of evolutionary novelty. These issues were the subjects of a workshop held in November 2009 at the Universi…Read more
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15Roger S. Taylor and Michel Ferrari : Epistemology and Science Education: Understanding the Evolution vs. Intelligent Design ControversyScience & Education 21 (4): 579-582. 2012.
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14Jason Robert, Embryology, Epigenesis, and Evolution: Taking Development Seriously. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press , 174 pp., $60.00 (review)Philosophy of Science 72 (4): 650-653. 2005.
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11Networks of Networks in Biology: Concepts, Tools and Applications edited by Narsis Kiani, David Gomez-Cabrero, and Ginestra Bianconi, Cambridge University Press, 2021 (review)Quarterly Review of Biology 97 (4): 303. 2022.
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7John Tyler Bonner: Remembering a scientific pioneerJournal of Experimental Evolution (Mol Dev Evol) 332 365-370. 2019.Throughout his life, John Tyler Bonner contributed to major transformations in the fields of developmental and evolutionary biology. He pondered the evolution of complexity and the significance of randomness in evolution, and was instrumental in the formation of evolutionary developmental biology. His contributions were vast, ranging from highly technical scientific articles to numerous books written for a broad audience. This historical vignette gathers reflections by several prominent research…Read more
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Mind |
Philosophy of Biology |
General Philosophy of Science |
Areas of Interest
Epistemology |
Philosophy of Language |
Natural Sciences |
Feminist Philosophy |