-
35Biological adaptationPhilosophy of Science 39 (4): 525-528. 1972.In successive issues of this journal Ronald Munson [2] and I [4] have made, quite independently, conflicting claims about the relationship between biological adaptation and biological function. I state, admittedly without proof, that “a functional statement in biology draws attention to the fact that what is under consideration is an adaptation or something which confers an ‘adaptive advantage’ on its possessor”. This was an identity claim. Munson claims, with proof, that “adaptation and functio…Read more
-
20Mike Dixon;, Gregory Radick. Darwin in Ilkley. 126 pp., illus., index. Stroud, Gloucestershire: History Press, 2009. £12.99 (review)Isis 102 (1): 179-179. 2011.
-
19Teleology and Biology: Some Thoughts on Ayala's Analysis of TeleologyHistory and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 21 (2). 1999.
-
55Teleology: yesterday, today, and tomorrow?Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 31 (1): 213-232. 2000.Teleological explanations in evolutionary biology, from Cuvier to the present (and into the future), depend on the metaphor of design for heuristic power and predictive fertility.
-
Kant and evolutionIn Justin E. H. Smith (ed.), The Problem of Animal Generation in Early Modern Philosophy, Cambridge University Press. 2006.
-
194Evolutionary ethics: A phoenix arisenZygon 21 (1): 95-112. 1986.Evolutionary ethics has a bad reputation. But we must not remain prisoners of our past. Recent advances in Darwinian evolutionary biology pave the way for a linking of science and morality, at once more modest yet more profound than earlier excursions in this direction. There is no need to repudiate the insights of the great philosophers of the past, particularly David Hume. So humans’ simian origins really matter. The question is not whether evolution is to be linked to ethics, but how.
-
22Alfred Russel Wallace, the Discovery of Natural Selection, and the Origins of HumankindIn Oren Harman & Michael Dietrich (eds.), Rebels, Mavericks, and Heretics in Biology, Yale University Press. pp. 20. 2008.
-
129Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution: An AnalysisJournal of the History of Biology 8 (2). 1975.
-
32Species as individuals: Logical, biological, and philosophical problemsBehavioral and Brain Sciences 4 (2): 299-300. 1981.
-
34Philosophy of biology today: No grounds for complacency (review)Philosophia 8 (4): 785-796. 1979.
-
37Evo-devo: A New Evolutionary Paradigm?Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 56 8-9. 2005.The homologies of process within morphogenetic fields provide some of the best evidence for evolution—just as skeletal and organ homologies did earlier. Thus, the evidence for evolution is better than ever. The role of natural selection in evolution, how–ever, is seen to play less an important role. It is merely a filter for unsuccessful morphologies generated by development. Population genetics is destined to change if it is not to become as irrelevant to evolution as Newtonian mechanics is to …Read more
-
26The Philosophy of Evolution Uffe J. Jensen and Rom Harre, editors Brighton: Harvester, 1981. Pp. vii, 299. £22.50 (review)Dialogue 23 (1): 171-172. 1984.
-
A Darwinian Understanding of EpistemologyIn A. J. Sanford & P. N. Johnson-Laird (eds.), The nature and limits of human understanding, T & T Clark. pp. 111. 2003.
-
31Rigorous Regularism: Physical Laws Without Necessity (review)Dialogue 27 (3): 523. 1988.This is a book about laws. Not, however, about the laws of which we learned in science classes at school: “scientific laws”. It is rather about those universalities which govern the world of facts, what Swartz calls “physical laws”—although this language is slightly misleading because the term is intended to cover the living as well as the non-living world. Of course, it may well be that a scientific law does capture the essence of a physical law, but not necessarily or usually. A physical law b…Read more
-
3Nature, Human Nature, and Society (review)International Studies in Philosophy 18 (3): 63-65. 1986.
-
18Book Review:The Young Darwin and His Cultural Circle Edward Manier (review)Philosophy of Science 46 (1): 165-. 1979.
Tallahassee, Florida, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Religion |
Philosophy of Biology |
Areas of Interest
Philosophy of Religion |
Philosophy of Biology |