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33Anomalies and Scientific Theories. Willard C. Humphreys (review)Philosophy of Science 38 (4): 614-616. 1971.
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32Social DarwinismCambridge University Press. 2021.This Element is a philosophical history of Social Darwinism. It begins by discussing the meaning of the term, moving then to its origins, paying particular attention to whether it is Charles Darwin or Herbert Spencer who is the true father of the idea. It gives an exposition of early thinking on the subject, covering Darwin and Spencer themselves and then on to Social Darwinism as found in American thought, with special emphasis on Andrew Carnegie, and Germany with special emphasis on Friedrich …Read more
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32Biological 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
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32Evolutionary Ethics: Healthy Prospect or Last Infirmity?Canadian Journal of Philosophy 18 (S1): 27-73. 1988.Evolutionary ethics, the idea that the evolutionary process contains the basis for a full and adequate understanding of human moral nature, is an old and disreputable notion. It was popularized in the 19th century by the English general man of science, Herbert Spencer, who began advocating an evolutionary approach to ethical understanding, even before Charles Darwin published hisOrigin of Speciesin 1859 (Spencer 1857, 1892). Although it was never regarded with much enthusiasm by professional phi…Read more
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32The Dawkins challengeZygon 57 (1): 181-199. 2022.Zygon®, Volume 57, Issue 1, Page 181-199, March 2022.
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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
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31Creationism and its critics in antiquity (review)Journal of the History of Philosophy 47 (3). 2009.he history of evolutionary theory is a little bit of a puzzle. Charles Darwin, the author of the Origin of Species in 1859, was the man who made evolutionary ideas reasonable—ideas that were generally accepted—and it was Darwin who provided the major mechanism of natural selection. He was not the first evolutionist, however. For at least one hundred and fifty years, starting with people like the French encyclopediast Denis Diderot, people had been speculating that organisms had a natural origin,…Read more
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30Evolutionary biology and teleological thinkingIn Andre Ariew, Robert Cummins & Mark Perlman (eds.), Functions: New Essays in the Philosophy of Psychology and Biology, Oxford University Press. pp. 33--60. 2002.
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30Species as individuals: Logical, biological, and philosophical problemsBehavioral and Brain Sciences 4 (2): 299-300. 1981.
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30Taking Darwin Seriously: A Naturalistic Approach to PhilosophyPrometheus Books. 1986.Brings together traditional philosophy and modern sociobiology to examine evolutionary biology and its relation to the evolution of knowledge and ethics
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29Are Pictures Really Necessary? The Case of Sewell Wright's "Adaptive Landscapes"PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1990. 1990.Philosophical analyses of science tend to ignore illustrations, implicitly regarding them as theoretically dispensible. If challenged, it is suggested that such neglect is justifiable, because the use of illustrations only leads to faulty reasoning, and thus is the mark of bad or inadequate science. I take as an example one of the most famous illustrations in the history of evolutionary biology, and argue that the philosophers' scorn is without foundation. I take my conclusions to be support for…Read more
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29Cultural evolutionTheory and Decision 5 (4): 413-440. 1974.In this paper I consider the problem of man's evolution - in particular the evolutionary problems raised when we consider man as a cultural animal as well as a biological one. I argue that any adequate cultural evolutionary theory must have the notion of ‘adaptation’ as a central concept, where this must be construed in a fairly literal (biological) sense, that is as something which aids its possessors (i.e. men) to survive and reproduce. I argue against theories which treat adaptation in a meta…Read more
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29Biological Science and Feminist ValuesPSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1984. 1984.Feminist writers argue that values permeate science. Using Ernan McMullin's discussion of values in science as a guide, the feminist position is accepted and an attempt is made to show why their position is one which should be noted by conventional philosophers of science.
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28Book Review:Evolution and Creation Ernan McMullin (review)Philosophy of Science 53 (4): 608-. 1986.
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28Frederick Burkhardt;, James A. Secord;, Janet Browne;, Samantha Evans;, Shelley Innes;, Alison M. Pearn;, Paul White . The Correspondence of Charles Darwin. Volume 19: 1871. xli + 1,062 pp., illus., table, bibl., index. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. £90 (review)Isis 104 (3): 622-624. 2013.
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28Critical Notice of Andrew Woodfield, Teleology, and Larry Wright, Teleological Explanations (review)Canadian Journal of Philosophy 8 (1): 191-203. 1978.
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28Evolution and the idea of social progressIn Denis Alexander & Ronald L. Numbers (eds.), Biology and Ideology From Descartes to Dawkins, University of Chicago Press. 2010.In evolutionary theory, the idea of organic evolution is linked to the social doctrine or ideology of progress. This chapter explores the relationship between evolution and the idea of social progress by first considering the definitions of evolution, social or cultural progress, and providence. It then comments on the science of Charles Darwin's Origin of Species, which it argues was not perfect because Darwin encountered a lot of problems with heredity and with the fossil record. Physicists ar…Read more
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27Forty Years a Philosopher of Biology: Why EvoDevo Makes Me Still Excited About My SubjectBiological Theory 1 (1): 35-37. 2006.
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27A reply to Wright's analysis of functional statementsPhilosophy of Science 40 (2): 277-280. 1973.
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27Woodger on genetics a critical evaluationActa Biotheoretica 24 (1-2): 1-13. 1975.A critical analysis of Woodger's work on formal logic in biology, especially genetics, reveals that the claim for the value of such methods in genetics is misplaced
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27INTRODUCTION I first read Charles Darwin's masterpiece, On the Origin of Species , some twenty years ago. At once I fell under its spell - an emotion which ...
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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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Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Religion |
Philosophy of Biology |
Areas of Interest
Philosophy of Religion |
Philosophy of Biology |