•  9
    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.
  •  62
    Not Music, but Musics: A Case for Conceptual Pluralism in Aesthetics
    Estetika: 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
  •  9
    Not Music, but Musics: A Case for Conceptual Pluralism in Aesthetics
    Estetika: The European Journal of Aesthetics 54 (2): 151. 2020.
  •  81
    From things to thinking: Cognitive archaeology
    Mind and Language 34 (2): 263-279. 2019.
    Cognitive archaeologists infer from material remains to the cognitive features of past societies. We characterize cognitive archaeology in terms of trace-based reasoning, which in the case of cognitive archaeology involves inferences drawing upon background theory linking objects from the archaeological record to cognitive features. We analyse such practices, examining work on cognitive evolution, language, and musicality. We argue that the central epistemic challenge for cognitive archaeology i…Read more
  •  3
    An argument that we should be optimistic about the capacity of “methodologically omnivorous” geologists, paleontologists, and archaeologists to uncover truths about the deep past. The “historical sciences”—geology, paleontology, and archaeology—have made extraordinary progress in advancing our understanding of the deep past. How has this been possible, given that the evidence they have to work with offers mere traces of the past? In Rock, Bone, and Ruin, Adrian Currie explains that these scienti…Read more
  •  9
    Creativity Without Agency: Evolutionary Flair & Aesthetic Engagement
    with Derek Turner and Derek Turner*
    Ergo: An Open Access Journal of Philosophy 10 (n/a). 2023.
    Common philosophical accounts of creativity align creative products and processes with a particular kind of agency: namely, that deserving of praise or blame. Considering evolutionary examples, we explore two ways of denying that creativity requires forms of agency. First, we argue that decoupling creativity from praiseworthiness comes at little cost: accepting that evolutionary processes are non-agential, they nonetheless exhibit many of the same characteristics and value associated with creati…Read more
  •  17
    Narratives, Events & Monotremes: The Philosophy of History in Practice
    Journal 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
  •  8
    Of Records and Ruins: Metaphors about the Deep Past
    Journal 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
  •  23
    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.
  •  14
    Abstract‘Behavioural modernity’ isn’t what it used to be. Once conceived as an integrated package of traits demarcated by a clear archaeological signal in a specific time and place, it is now disparate, archaeologically equivocal, and temporally and spatially spread. In this paper we trace behavioural modernity’s empirical and theoretical developments over the last three decades, as surprising discoveries in the material record, as well the reappraisal of old evidence, drove increasingly sophist…Read more
  •  12
    Caitlin Wylie’s “Preparing Dinosaurs: the work behind the scenes” (MIT Press 2021) provides a rich ethnographic analysis of the work of fossil preparators. On her account, knowledge in vertebrate paleontology is mediated through a three-way division of labour between paleontologists, preparators and volunteers, each with their own role, expertise and responsibility. In this review, I develop her notion of ‘preparation as knowledge’, focusing in particular on the nature of objectivity in paleonto…Read more
  •  19
    Past Facts and the Nature of History
    Journal 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
  •  31
    Minimal Metaphysics vs. Maximal Semantics: A Response to Paul Roth and Fons Dewulf
    Journal 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.
  •  25
    Speculation Made Material: Experimental Archaeology and Maker’s Knowledge
    Philosophy of Science 89 (2): 337-359. 2022.
    Experimental archaeology is often understood both as testing hypotheses about processes shaping the archaeological record and as generating tacit knowledge. Considering lithic technologies, I examine the relationship between these conceptions. Experimental archaeology is usefully understood via “maker’s knowledge”: archaeological experiments generate embodied know-how enabling archaeological hypotheses to be grasped and challenged, and further, well-positioning archaeologists to generate integra…Read more
  •  3
    Cases 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
  •  6
    Researchers in the life sciences often make uniqueness attributions; about branching events generating new species, the developmental processes generating novel traits and the distinctive cultural selection pressures faced by hominins. Yet since uniqueness implies non-recurrence, such attributions come freighted with epistemic consequences. Drawing on the work of Aviezer Tucker, we show that a common reaction to uniqueness attributions is pessimism: both about the strength of candidate explanati…Read more
  •  11
    Misaligned education
    Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 48 (3): 332-343. 2021.
    Like every Bachelor of Arts program, the University of Exeter provides a set of reasons to undertake a BA in philosophy aimed at prospective students and their parents. Here1 are two such reasons:F...
  •  44
    Epistemic Engagement, Aesthetic Value, and Scientific Practice
    British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 74 (2): 313-334. 2023.
    I develop an account of the relationship between aesthetics and knowledge, focusing on scientific practice. Cognitivists infer from ‘partial sensitivity’—aesthetic appreciation partly depends on doxastic states—to ‘factivity’, the idea that the truth or otherwise of those beliefs makes a difference to aesthetic appreciation. Rejecting factivity, I develop a notion of ‘epistemic engagement’: partaking genuinely in a knowledge-directed process of coming to epistemic judgements, and suggest that th…Read more
  •  40
    Science & Speculation
    Erkenntnis 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
  •  25
    Debate about the epistemic prowess of historical science has focused on local underdetermination problems generated by a lack of historical data; the prevalence of information loss over geological time, and the capacities of scientists to mitigate it. Drawing on Leonelli’s recent distinction between ‘phenomena-time’ and ‘data-time’ I argue that factors like data generation, curation and management significantly complexifies and undermines this: underdetermination is a bad way of framing the chal…Read more
  •  10
    Comparative Thinking in Biology
    Cambridge University Press. 2020.
    Biologists often study living systems in light of their having evolved, of their being the products of various processes of heredity, adaptation, ancestry, and so on. In their investigations, then, biologists think comparatively: they situate lineages into models of those evolutionary processes, comparing their targets with ancestral relatives and with analogous evolutionary outcomes. This element characterizes this mode of investigation - 'comparative thinking' - and puts it to work in understa…Read more
  •  17
    Kon-Tiki Experiments
    with Aaron Novick, Eden W. McQueen, and Nathan L. Brouwer
    Philosophy 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
  •  8
    Angela Potochnik’s Idealization and the Aims of Science (Chicago) defends an ambitious and systematic account of scientific knowledge: ultimately science pursues human understanding rather than truth. Potochnik argues that idealization is rampant and unchecked in science. Further, given that idealizations involve departures from truth, this suggests science is not primarily about truth. I explore the relationship between truths about causal patterns and scientific understanding in light of this,…Read more
  •  15
    Isabelle F. Peschard and Bas C. van Fraassen (Eds.): The Experimental Side of Modeling
    Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 51 (3): 499-502. 2020.
  •  133
    Why experiments matter
    with Arnon Levy
    Inquiry: 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