-
Horticultural diversity in the post-positivist gardenJournal of Economic Methodology 10 (4): 531-534. 2003.
-
146. Reflections on Biology and CultureIn James J. Sheehan & Morton Sosna (eds.), The Boundaries of Humanity: Humans, Animals, Machines, University of California Press. pp. 125-132. 1991.
-
81Processes of Life: Essays in the Philosophy of BiologyOxford University Press. 2011.John Dupr explores recent revolutionary developments in biology and considers their relevance for our understanding of human nature and society. He reveals how the advance of genetic science is changing our view of the constituents of life, and shows how an understanding of microbiology will overturn standard assumptions about the living world
-
4ReductionismIn W. Newton-Smith (ed.), A companion to the philosophy of science, Blackwell. 2000.The term “reductionism” is used broadly for any claim that some range of phenomena can be fully assimilated to some other, apparently distinct range of phenomena. The logical positivist thesis that scientific truth could be fully analyzed into reports of immediate experience was a reductionistic thesis of great significance in the history of the philosophy of science (see logical positivism). In recent philosophy of science, “reductionism” is generally used more specifically to refer to the thes…Read more
-
6Natural KindsIn W. Newton-Smith (ed.), A companion to the philosophy of science, Blackwell. 2000.A central aspect of science is the classification of natural phenomena. Not only is this to some extent an end in itself, an account of what kinds of things there are being an important part of the picture of the world that science aims to provide. but classification is also inextricably connected with the development of scientific theories. The change from phlogiston theory to atomic chemistry, for example, involved not just a different theory but an entirely new way of sorting the domain of ch…Read more
-
5ELLIOTT SOBER Did Darwin Write The Origin Backwards? Philosophical Essays on Darwin’s Theory (review)British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 64 (4): 889-893. 2013.
-
54. The Polygenomic OrganismIn Sarah S. Richardson & Hallam Stevens (eds.), Postgenomics: Perspectives on Biology after the Genome, Duke University Press. pp. 56-72. 2015.
-
172The Metaphysics of EvolutionInterface Focus 7 (5): 1-9. 2017.This paper briefly describes process metaphysics, and argues that it is better suited for describing life than the more standard thing, or substance, metaphysics. It then explores the implications of process metaphysics for conceptualizing evolution. After explaining what it is for an organism to be a process, the paper takes up the Hull/Ghiselin thesis of species as individuals and explores the conditions under which a species or lineage could constitute an individual process. It is argued that…Read more
-
53Process epistemology in the COVID-19 era: rethinking the research process to avoid dangerous forms of reificationEuropean Journal for Philosophy of Science 12 (1): 1-22. 2022.Whether we live in a world of autonomous things, or a world of interconnected processes in constant flux, is an ancient philosophical debate. Modern biology provides decisive reasons for embracing the latter view. How does one understand the practices and outputs of science in such a dynamic, ever-changing world - and particularly in an emergency situation such as the COVID-19 pandemic, where scientific knowledge has been regarded as bedrock for decisive social interventions? We argue that key t…Read more
-
62 The Miracle of MonismIn Mario De Caro & David Macarthur (eds.), Naturalism in Question, Harvard University Press. pp. 36-58. 2004.
-
33Causally powerful processesSynthese 199 (3-4): 10667-10683. 2021.Processes produce changes: rivers erode their banks and thunderstorms cause floods. If I am right that organisms are a kind of process, then the causally efficacious behaviours of organisms are also examples of processes producing change. In this paper I shall try to articulate a view of how we should think of causation within a broadly processual ontology of the living world. Specifically, I shall argue that causation, at least in a central class of cases, is the interaction of processes, that …Read more
-
73Humans and Other AnimalsClarendon Press. 2002.John Dupré explores the ways in which we categorize animals, including humans, and comes to refreshingly radical conclusions. He opposes the idea that there is only one legitimate way of classifying things in the natural world, the 'scientific' way. The lesson we should learn from Darwin is to reject the idea that each organism has an essence that determines its necessary place in the unique hierarchy of things. Nature is not like that: it is not organized in a single system. For instance, there…Read more
-
30The Metaphysics of BiologyCambridge University Press. 2021.This Element is an introduction to the metaphysics of biology, a very general account of the nature of the living world. The first part of the Element addresses more traditionally philosophical questions - whether biological systems are reducible to the properties of their physical parts, causation and laws of nature, substantialist and processualist accounts of life, and the nature of biological kinds. The second half will offer an understanding of important biological entities, drawing on the …Read more
-
23Review of Robert N. Brandon: Concepts and Methods in Evolutionary Biology (review)British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 48 (2): 292-296. 1997.This book is a collection of essays by a leading philosopher of biology and spans his career over almost the last twenty years. Most of the topics that have been of concern to philosophers of biology in this period are touched on to some extent, and the collection of these essays in a convenient volume will certainly be welcomed by everyone working in this field. The essays are arranged chronologically, and divided into three sections. Although the chapters in the first section have substantial …Read more
-
22How Do Scientists Define Openness? Exploring the Relationship Between Open Science Policies and Research PracticeBulletin of Science, Technology and Society 36 (2): 128-141. 2016.This article documents how biomedical researchers in the United Kingdom understand and enact the idea of “openness.” This is of particular interest to researchers and science policy worldwide in view of the recent adoption of pioneering policies on Open Science and Open Access by the U.K. government—policies whose impact on and implications for research practice are in need of urgent evaluation, so as to decide on their eventual implementation elsewhere. This study is based on 22 in-depth interv…Read more
-
159Life as ProcessEpistemology and Philosophy of Science 57 (2): 96-113. 2020.The thesis of this paper is that our understanding of life, as reflected in the biological and medical sciences but also in our everyday transactions, has been hampered by an inappropriate metaphysics. The metaphysics that has dominated Western philosophy, and that currently shapes most understanding of life and the life sciences, sees the world as composed of things and their properties. While these things appear to undergo all kinds of changes, it has often been supposed that this amounts to n…Read more
-
23Inmaculada de Melo-Martín and Kristen Intemann. The Fight against Doubt: How to Bridge the Gap between Scientists and the PublicPhilosophy of Science 87 (1): 204-207. 2020.
-
22Review of Inmaculada de Melo-Martín and Kristen Intemann's The Fight Against Doubt (review)Philosophy of Science. forthcoming.
-
1Review of Robert N. Brandon: Concepts and Methods in Evolutionary Biology (review)British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 48 (2): 292-296. 1997.
-
16Aryeh Kosman is the John Whitehead Professor of Philosophy at Haver-ford College in Haverford, Pennsylvania. He works on the interpretation of ancient philosophy, particularly the works of Plato and Aristotle. Zvi Biener is a graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh's depart-ment of History and Philosophy of Science. He specializes in the history of (review)Perspectives on Science 12 (3). 2004.
-
1Human Nature and the Limits of ScienceRevue Philosophique de la France Et de l'Etranger 194 (1): 134-135. 2004.
-
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 |