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5Cases of 'convergence' could play an important role in the construction and corroboration of adaptive hypotheses. In particular, they could inform us about the evolutionary histories of novel traits. However, there is a problem of causal depth in the use of analogies. Natural Selection's affect on phenotype is constrained by phylogenetic history to a degree that we are unfounded in projecting adaptive stories from one lineage to another. I will argue for two approaches to resolve this issue. Fir…Read more
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2Past materials, past minds: The philosophy of cognitive paleoanthropologyPhilosophy Compass 19 (6). 2024.The philosophy of cognitive paleoanthropology involves three related tasks: (1) asking what inferences might be drawn from the paleontological and archaeological records to past cognition, behavior and culture; (2) constructing synthetic accounts of the evolution of distinctive hominin capacities; (3) exploring how results from cognitive paleoanthropology might inform philosophy. We introduce some distinctive cognitive paleoanthropological inferences and discuss their epistemic standing, before …Read more
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22Bringing thought experiments back into the philosophy of scienceStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 105 (C): 149-157. 2024.
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27Kon-Tiki ExperimentsPhilosophy of Science 87 (2): 213-236. 2020.We identify a species of experiment—Kon-Tiki experiments—used to demonstrate the competence of a cause to produce a certain effect, and we examine their role in the historical sciences. We argue that Kon-Tiki experiments are used to test middle-range theory, to test assumptions within historical narratives, and to open new avenues of inquiry. We show how the results of Kon-Tiki experiments are involved in projective inferences, and we argue that reliance on projective inferences does not provide…Read more
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55Venomous Dinosaurs and Rear-Fanged Snakes: Homology and Homoplasy Characterized (review)Erkenntnis 79 (3): 701-727. 2014.I develop an account of homology and homoplasy drawing on their use in biological inference and explanation. Biologists call on homology and homoplasy to infer character states, support adaptationist explanations, identify evolutionary novelties and hypothesize phylogenetic relationships. In these contexts, the concepts must be understood phylogenetically and kept separate: as they play divergent roles, overlap between the two ought to be avoided. I use these considerations to criticize an other…Read more
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98The Mystery of the Triceratops’s Mother: How to be a Realist About the Species CategoryErkenntnis 81 (4): 795-816. 2016.Can we be realists about a general category but pluralists about concepts relating to that category? I argue that paleobiological methods of delineating species are not affected by differing species concepts, and that this underwrites an argument that species concept pluralists should be species category realists. First, the criteria by which paleobiologists delineate species are ‘indifferent’ to the species category. That is, their method for identifying species applies equally to any species c…Read more
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116Narratives, mechanisms and progress in historical scienceSynthese 191 (6): 1-21. 2014.Geologists, Paleontologists and other historical scientists are frequently concerned with narrative explanations targeting single cases. I show that two distinct explanatory strategies are employed in narratives, simple and complex. A simple narrative has minimal causal detail and is embedded in a regularity, whereas a complex narrative is more detailed and not embedded. The distinction is illustrated through two case studies: the ‘snowball earth’ explanation of Neoproterozoic glaciation and rec…Read more
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67Convergence, contingency & morphospace: G. R. McGhee: Convergent evolution: limited forms most beautiful. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2011Biology and Philosophy 27 (4): 583-593. 2012.George McGhee’s book “Convergent Evolution: limited forms most beautiful” provides an extensive survey of biological convergence. This paper has two main aims. First, it examines the theoretical claims McGhee makes about convergent evolution—specifically criticizing his use of a total morphospace to understand contingency and his assumption that functional constraints are non-contingent. Second, it sketches a group of important conceptual challenges facing researchers interested in convergence.
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4Chris Manias, The Age of Mammals: Nature, Development, and Paleontology in the Long Nineteenth Century Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2023. Pp. 488. ISBN 978-0-8229-4780-6. $65.00 (hardcover) (review)British Journal for the History of Science 1-2. forthcoming.
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115Why experiments matterInquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 62 (9-10): 1066-1090. 2019.ABSTRACTExperimentation is traditionally considered a privileged means of confirmation. However, why and how experiments form a better confirmatory source relative to other strategies is unclear, and recent discussions have identified experiments with various modeling strategies on the one hand, and with ‘natural’ experiments on the other hand. We argue that experiments aiming to test theories are best understood as controlled investigations of specimens. ‘Control’ involves repeated, fine-graine…Read more
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106Frameworks for Historians & PhilosophersHopos: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science 9 (1): 1-34. 2018.The past can be a stubborn subject: it is complex, heterogeneous and opaque. To understand it, one must decide which aspects of the past to emphasise and which to minimise. Enter frameworks. Frameworks foreground certain aspects of the historical record while backgrounding others. As such, they are both necessary for, and conducive to, good history as well as good philosophy. We examine the role of frameworks in the history and philosophy of science and argue that they are necessary for both for…Read more
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22Not by signalling alone: Music's mosaicism undermines the search for a proper functionBehavioral and Brain Sciences 44. 2021.Mehr et al. seek to explain music's evolution in terms of a unitary proper function – signalling cooperative intent – which they cash out in two guises, coalition signalling and parental attention signalling. Although we recognize the role signalling almost certainly played in the evolution of music, we reject “ultimate” causal explanations which focus on a unidirectional, narrow range of causal factors.
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48Not by demography alone: Neanderthal extinction and null hypotheses in paleoanthropological explanationBiology and Philosophy 37 (6): 1-23. 2022.Neanderthal extinction is a matter of intense debate. It has been suggested that demography (as opposed to environment or competition) could alone provide a sufficient explanation for the phenomenon. We argue that demography cannot be a ‘stand-alone’ or ‘alternative’ explanation of token extinctions as demographic features are entangled with competitive and environmental factors, and further because demography should not be conflated with neutrality.
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36Minimal Metaphysics vs. Maximal Semantics: A Response to Paul Roth and Fons DewulfJournal of the Philosophy of History 16 (2): 226-236. 2022.In our article, “Past Facts and The Nature of History”, we unpack a broadly realist view of the nature of history and historical narratives. Paul Roth’s The Philosophical Structure of Historical Explanation serves as our primary foil. Fons DeWulf and Roth have replied, and this is our response to their response.
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43Melinda Fagan philosophy of stem cell biology: Knowledge in flesh and bloodBritish Journal for the Philosophy of Science 67 (2): 651-655. 2016.
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55Science & SpeculationErkenntnis 88 (2): 597-619. 2021.Despite wide recognition that speculation is critical for successful science, philosophers have attended little to it. When they have, speculation has been characterized in narrowly epistemic terms: a hypothesis is speculative due to its (lack of) evidential support. These ‘evidence-first’ accounts provide little guidance for what makes speculation productive or egregious, nor how to foster the former while avoiding the latter. I examine how scientists discuss speculation and identify various fu…Read more
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11Of Records and Ruins: Metaphors about the Deep PastJournal of the Philosophy of History 17 (1): 154-175. 2023.Consideration of evidence and data in historical science is dominated by textual metaphor: we reconstruct the past on the basis of various incomplete records. I suggest that although textual metaphors are often apt, they also lead philosophers and scientists to think about historical evidence in particular ways, and that other perspectives might be fruitful. Towards this, I explore the notion of natural historical evidence being thought of as ‘ruins’. This has several potential benefits. First, …Read more
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26Narratives, Events & Monotremes: The Philosophy of History in PracticeJournal of the Philosophy of History 17 (2): 265-287. 2023.Significant work in the philosophy of history has focused on the writing of historiographical narratives, isolated from the rest of what historians do. Taking my cue from the philosophy of science in practice, I suggest that understanding historical narratives as embedded within historical practice more generally is fruitful. I illustrate this by bringing a particular instance of historical practice, Natalie Lawrence’s explanation of the sad fate of Winston the platypus, into dialogue with some …Read more
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59Simplicity, one-shot hypotheses and paleobiological explanationHistory and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 41 (1): 10. 2019.Paleobiologists often provide simple narratives to explain complex, contingent episodes. These narratives are sometimes ‘one-shot hypotheses’ which are treated as being mutually exclusive with other possible explanations of the target episode, and are thus extended to accommodate as much about the episode as possible. I argue that a provisional preference for such hypotheses provides two kinds of productive scaffolding. First, they generate ‘hypothetical difference-makers’: one-shot hypotheses h…Read more
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20Past Facts and the Nature of HistoryJournal of the Philosophy of History 16 (2): 179-206. 2021.We defend a realist account of history: past facts are discoveries not creations. We show how ‘moderate’ realists, who admit the critical role of perspective, while insisting on history’s metaphysical independence from historians, can accommodate Paul Roth’s arguments in favor of irrealism. Moreover, our position is consistent with a dynamic past: as history unfurls past events gain new properties. Realism is necessary, we argue, to capture substantive disputes within history. It also grounds hi…Read more
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68Newton on Islandworld: Ontic-Driven Explanations of Scientific MethodPerspectives on Science 26 (1): 119-156. 2018.. Philosophers and scientists often cite ontic factors when explaining the methods and success of scientific inquiry. That is, the adoption of a method or approach is explained in reference to the kind of system in which the scientist is interested: these are explanations of why scientists do what they do, that appeal to properties of their target systems. We present a framework for understanding such “Opticks to his Principia. Newton’s optical work is largely experiment-driven, while the Princi…Read more
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56The argument from surpriseCanadian Journal of Philosophy 48 (5): 639-661. 2018.I develop an account of productive surprise as an epistemic virtue of scientific investigations which does not turn on psychology alone. On my account, a scientific investigation is potentially productively surprising when results can conflict with epistemic expectations, those expectations pertain to a wide set of subjects. I argue that there are two sources of such surprise in science. One source, often identified with experiments, involves bringing our theoretical ideas in contact with new em…Read more
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31Scientific Knowledge and the Deep Past: History MattersCambridge University Press. 2019.Historical sciences like paleontology and archaeology have uncovered unimagined, remarkable and mysterious worlds in the deep past. How should we understand the success of these sciences? What is the relationship between knowledge and history? In Scientific Knowledge and the Deep Past: History Matters, Adrian Currie examines recent paleontological work on the great changes that occurred during the Cretaceous period - the emergence of flowering plants, the splitting of the mega-continent Gondwana…Read more
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79Not Music, but Musics: A Case for Conceptual Pluralism in AestheticsEstetika: The European Journal of Aesthetics 54 (2): 151-174. 2017.We argue for conceptual pluralism about music. In our view, there is no right answer to the question ‘What is music?’ divorced from some context or interest. Instead, there are several, non-equivalent music concepts suited to different interests – from within some tradition or practice, or by way of some research question or field of inquiry. We argue that unitary definitions of music are problematic, that the role music concepts play in various research questions should motivate conceptual plur…Read more
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795Model Organisms are Not (Theoretical) ModelsBritish Journal for the Philosophy of Science 66 (2): 327-348. 2015.Many biological investigations are organized around a small group of species, often referred to as ‘model organisms’, such as the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. The terms ‘model’ and ‘modelling’ also occur in biology in association with mathematical and mechanistic theorizing, as in the Lotka–Volterra model of predator-prey dynamics. What is the relation between theoretical models and model organisms? Are these models in the same sense? We offer an account on which the two practices are show…Read more
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65Paleobiology and philosophyBiology and Philosophy 34 (2): 31. 2019.I offer four ways of distinguishing paleobiology from neontology, and from this develop a sketch of the philosophy of paleobiology. I then situate and describe the papers in the special issue Paleobiology and Philosophy, and reflect on the value and prospects of paleontology-focused philosophy.
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74Marsupial lions and methodological omnivory: function, success and reconstruction in paleobiologyBiology and Philosophy 30 (2): 187-209. 2015.Historical scientists frequently face incomplete data, and lack direct experimental access to their targets. This has led some philosophers and scientists to be pessimistic about the epistemic potential of the historical sciences. And yet, historical science often produces plausible, sophisticated hypotheses. I explain this capacity to generate knowledge in the face of apparent evidential scarcity by examining recent work on Thylacoleo carnifex, the ‘marsupial lion’. Here, we see two important m…Read more
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Towards a new aesthetics of science: aesthetic cultures and the processes and objects of regardIn Milena Ivanova & Alice Murphy (eds.), The Aesthetics of Scientific Experiments, Routledge. 2023.