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1William Whewell: OmniscientistIn Menachem Fisch & Simon Schaffer (eds.), William Whewell: A Composite Portrait, Clarendon Press. 1991.
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39Making use of creationism. A case-study for the philosophy of science classroomStudies in Philosophy and Education 10 (1): 81-92. 1990.In this paper, I describe an approach to the teaching of philosophy of science that draws normally reluctant students into controversial issues in the philosophy of science. I have found that the topic of creationism is a good vehicle for introducing students to the more difficult issues in philosophy of science. I explore the use of creationism as a case-study in the philosophy of science and detail my own experience in the creationism debate.
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Introduction to part VIIIn David L. Hull & Michael Ruse (eds.), The philosophy of biology, Oxford University Press. 1998.
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27Origins of Genius: Darwinian Perspectives on Creativity. Dean Keith Simonton (review)Isis 92 (3): 587-589. 2001.
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6Sudden Origins: Fossils, Genes, and the Emergence of Species by Jeffrey H. Schwartz (review)Isis 91 (3): 608-609. 2000.
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On behalf of the foolIn John Angus Campbell & Stephen C. Meyer (eds.), Darwinism, design, and public education, Michigan State University Press. pp. 475--485. 2003.
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John Preston, Gonzalo Munevar and David Lamb (eds), The Worst Enemy of Science? Essays in Memory of Paul Feyerabend (review)History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 23 (2): 290-290. 2002.
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8Richard Dawkins. The God Delusion. x + 406 pp., app., index. Boston/New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2006. $27Isis 98 (4): 814-816. 2007.
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22Literature after Darwin: Human Beasts in Western Fiction, 1859–1939The European Legacy 19 (6): 812-813. 2014.
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Evolutionary medicineIn Martin H. Brinkworth & Friedel Weinert (eds.), Evolution 2.0: Implications of Darwinism in Philosophy and the Social and Natural Sciences, Springer. pp. 177-189. 2012.
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82Genetic testing and insurance: The complexity of adverse selectionEthical Perspectives 19 (1): 123-54. 2012.The debate on whether insurance companies should be allowed to use results of individuals’ genetic tests for underwriting purposes has been both lively and increasingly relevant over the past two decades. Yet there appears to be no widely agreed upon resolution regarding appropriate and effective regulation. There exists today a gamut of recommendations and actual practices addressing this phenomenon ranging from laissez-faire to voluntary industry moratoria to strict legal prohibition. One obvi…Read more
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14Formal Thought and the Science of Man (review)International Studies in Philosophy 20 (1): 82-83. 1988.
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21The Place of Artificial Selection in Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution through Natural SelectionIn Gregory J. Morgan (ed.), Philosophy of Science Matters: The Philosophy of Peter Achinstein, Oxford University Press. pp. 203. 2011.
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218Making room for faith in an age of science: A response to David WisdoZygon 46 (3): 655-672. 2011.Abstract. I respond to the criticisms of David Wisdo of my position on the relationship between science and religion. I argue that although he gives a full and fair account of my position, he fails to grasp fully my use of the metaphorical basis of modern science in my argument that, because of its mechanistic commitment, there are some questions that science not only does not answer but that science does not even attempt to answer. Hence, my position stands and plays a crucial role in our under…Read more
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10Discovery in the Physical Sciences. By Richard J. Blackwell. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1969. Pp. xii, 240. $8.50 (review)Dialogue 9 (3): 480-485. 1970.
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123On the nature of the evolutionary process: The correspondence between Theodosius Dobzhansky and John C. Greene (review)Biology and Philosophy 11 (4): 445-491. 1996.This is the correspondence (1959–1969), on the nature of the evolutionary process, between the biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky and the historian John C. Greene.
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123Science and values: My debt to Ernan McMullinZygon 47 (4): 666-685. 2012.Ernan McMullin's 1982 presidential address to the Philosophy of Science Association dealt with the issue of science and values, arguing that although scientists are rightfully wary of the infiltration of cultural and social values, their work is guided by “epistemic values,” such as the drive for consistency and predictive fertility. McMullin argued that it is the pursuit of these epistemic values that drives nonepistemic values from science. Using the case study of the fate of the nonepistemic …Read more
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Evolutionary naturalismIn A. J. Sanford & P. N. Johnson-Laird (eds.), Mind, T & T Clark. pp. 401-405. 2003.
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72The Morality of the GeneThe Monist 67 (2): 167-199. 1984.The relationship between biology, the science of organisms, and ethics, the philosophy of morality, has never been a particularly happy or fruitful one. Indeed, for much of this century, attempts to relate our animal nature to our sense of right and wrong have been taken as paradigms of how not to do moral philosophy. It has been argued that such systems of “evolutionary ethics” commit the most basic fallacies, and can serve only as dreadful warnings to those who would cross interdisciplinary di…Read more
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Modern biologists and the argument from designIn Neil A. Manson (ed.), God and Design: The Teleological Argument and Modern Science, Routledge. 2003.
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204Darwinism and mechanism: metaphor in scienceStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 36 (2): 285-302. 2005.There are two main senses of ‘mechanism’, both deriving from the metaphor of nature as a machine. One sense refers to contrivance or design, as in ‘the plant’s mechanism of attracting butterflies’. The other sense refers to cause or law process, as in ‘the mechanism of heredity’. In his work on evolution, Charles Darwin showed that organisms are produced by a mechanism in the second sense, although he never used this language. He also discussed contrivance, where he did use the language of mecha…Read more
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27A reply to Wright's analysis of functional statementsPhilosophy of Science 40 (2): 277-280. 1973.
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6The Development of Darwin's Theory: Natural History, Natural Theology, and Natural Selection, 1838-1859. Dov Ospovat (review)Isis 74 (2): 292-293. 1983.
Tallahassee, Florida, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Religion |
Philosophy of Biology |
Areas of Interest
Philosophy of Religion |
Philosophy of Biology |