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18Social Science: City Center or Leafy SuburbPhilosophy of the Social Sciences 46 (6): 548-564. 2016.This article argues, in opposition to a common interpretation of Wittgenstein deriving from Winch, that there is nothing especially problematic about the social sciences. Familiar Wittgensteinian theses about language, notably on the open-endedness of linguistic rules and on the importance of family resemblance concepts, have great relevance not only to the social sciences but also to much of the natural sciences. The differences between scientific and ordinary language are much less sharp than …Read more
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25Scientism, sexism and sociobiology: One more link in the chainBehavioral and Brain Sciences 16 (2): 292-292. 1993.
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42Some philosophical implications of the rehabilitation of group selectionBehavioral and Brain Sciences 17 (4): 619-620. 1994.
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25Social SciencePhilosophy of the Social Sciences 46 (6): 548-564. 2016.This article argues, in opposition to a common interpretation of Wittgenstein deriving from Winch, that there is nothing especially problematic about the social sciences. Familiar Wittgensteinian theses about language, notably on the open-endedness of linguistic rules and on the importance of family resemblance concepts, have great relevance not only to the social sciences but also to much of the natural sciences. The differences between scientific and ordinary language are much less sharp than …Read more
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17Science in a Democratic Society. By Philip Kitcher. (New York: Prometheus Books, 2011. Pp. 270. Price £24.95.)Philosophical Quarterly 63 (251): 408-410. 2013.
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36Science and values and values in science: Comments on Philip Kitcher's science, truth, and democracyInquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 47 (5). 2004.This Article does not have an abstract
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11Social empiricism by Miriam Solomon Bradford Books/MIT press, 2001. Pp. 175 + XI £21.95Philosophy 78 (1): 123-145. 2003.
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18Review of Steven Pinker, how the mind works (review)Philosophy of Science 66 (3): 489-493. 1999.
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24Review of Rosenberg's "instrumental biology or the disunity of science" (review)Dialogue 15 283-285. 1995.This book is the apologia of a frustrated reductionist. The frustration derives from Rosenberg's clear perception that the project of physicalist reduction, the reduction of all the sciences of complex objects to physics, is impossible, at least, as he often says, for beings hampered by our limited cognitive and computational abilities. The reductionism that survives this realisation is purely metaphysical. It is the firm commitment to the view that ultimately whatever happens happens because of…Read more
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39Review of Sober's "philosophy of biology" (review)British Journal for Philosophy of Science 63 143-145. 1996.Elliott Sober is among the leading contemporary contributors to the philosophy of biology. He also has an exceptional ability to explain difficult ideas clearly. He is therefore very well equipped to provide an accessible yet state-of-the-art introduction to the philosophy of biology, and in most respects this optimistic prognosis is justified by the present volume. Focussing on evolutionary biology, Sober provides a general overview of evolutionary theory; a chapter on creationism that serves a…Read more
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52Review of Joseph LaPorte, Natural Kinds and Conceptual Change (review)Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2004 (6). 2004.
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6Review of From a Biological Point of View: Essays in Evolutionary Philosophy by Elliott Sober (review)Philosophy of Science 63 (1): 143-145. 1996.Biological knowledge has increased exponentially in the last century or so, and it would be surprising if some of this knowledge did not have implications for philosophy. In contrast with a good deal of Elliott Sober's best known work, which aims to bring philosophical methods to bear on issues within biology, the theme of this collection of essays is to explore some ways in which biological ideas, or more specifically evolutionary ideas, may be brought to bear on philosophical issues. Sober not…Read more
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20Processes of Life: Essays in the Philosophy of BiologyOxford University Press UK. 2011.John Dupré explores recent revolutionary developments in biology and considers their relevance for our understanding of human nature and human society. Epigenetics and related areas of molecular biology have eroded the exceptional status of the gene and presented the genome as fully interactive with the rest of the cell. Developmental systems theory provides a space for a vision of evolution that takes full account of the fundamental importance of developmental processes. Dupré shows the importa…Read more
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75On the Impossibility of a Monistic Account of SpeciesIn Robert Andrew Wilson (ed.), Species: New Interdisciplinary Essays, Mit Press. pp. 3-22. 1999.
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57Probabilistic Causality: A Rejoinder to Ellery EellsPhilosophy of Science 57 (4). 1990.In an earlier paper (Dupré 1984), I criticized a thesis sometimes defended by theorists of probabilistic causality, namely, that a probabilistic cause must raise the probability of its effect in every possible set of causally relevant background conditions (the "contextual unanimity thesis"). I also suggested that a more promising analysis of probabilistic causality might be sought in terms of statistical relevance in a fair sample. Ellery Eells (1987) has defended the contextual unanimity thesi…Read more
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University of ExeterDepartment of Sociology, Philosophy and Anthropology
Egenis, Centre for the Study of Life SciencesProfessor
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Biology |
Metaphysics |
General Philosophy of Science |
Areas of Interest
Philosophy of Biology |
General Philosophy of Science |
Metaphysics |