•  1139
    Testing Times: Confirmation in the Historical Sciences
    Dissertation, Australian National University. 2008.
    In this thesis, I argue that a good historical science will have the following characteristics: Firstly, it will seek to construct causal histories of the past. Secondly, the construction of these causal histories will utilise well-tested regularities of science. Additionally, well-tested regularities will secure the link between observations of physical traces and the causal events of interest. However, the historical sciences cannot use these regularities in a straightforward manner. The regu…Read more
  •  834
    The scope and limits of biological explanations in archaeology
    Dissertation, Victoria University of Wellington. 2003.
    I show how archaeologists have two problems. The construction of scenarios accounting for the raw data of Archaeology, the material remains of the past, and the explanation of pre-history. Within Archaeology, there has been an ongoing debate about how to constrain speculation within both of these archaeological projects, and archaeologists have consistently looked to biological mechanisms for constraints. I demonstrate the problems of using biology, either as an analogy for cultural processes or…Read more
  •  494
    The Evolution of Technical Competence: Economic and Strategic Thinking
    ASCS09: Proceedings of the 9th Conference of the Australasian Society for Cognitive Science. 2010.
    This paper will outline a series of changes in the archaeological record related to Hominins. I argue that these changes underlie the emergence of the capacity for strategic thinking. The paper will start by examining the foundation of technical skills found in primates, and then work through various phases of the archaeological and paleontological record. I argue that the key driver for the development of strategic thinking was the need to expand range sizes and cope with increasingly heterogen…Read more
  •  150
    I review the book “Making Prehistory: Historical Science and the Scientific Realism Debate” by Derek Turner. Turner suggests that philosophers should take seriously the historical sciences such as geology when considering philosophy of science issues. To that end, he explores the scientific realism debate with the historical sciences in mind. His conclusion is a view allied to that of Arthur Fine: a view Turner calls the natural historical attitude. While I find Turner’s motivations good, I find…Read more
  •  105
    The co-evolution of tools and minds: cognition and material culture in the hominin lineage
    Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 9 (4): 503-520. 2010.
    The structuring of our environment to provide cues and reminders for ourselves is common: We leave notes on the fridge, we have a particular place for our keys where we deposit them, making them easy to find. We alter our world to streamline our cognitive tasks. But how did hominins gain this capacity? What pushed our ancestors to structure their physical environment in ways that buffered thinking and began the process of using the world cognitively? I argue that the capacity to engage in these …Read more
  •  99
    Testing times: Regularities in the historical sciences
    Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 39 (4): 469-475. 2008.
    The historical sciences, such as geology, evolutionary biology, and archaeology, appear to have no means to test hypotheses. However, on closer examination, reasoning in the historical sciences relies upon regularities, regularities that can be tested. I outline the role of regularities in the historical sciences, and in the process, blur the distinction between the historical sciences and the experimental sciences: all sciences deploy theories about the world in their investigations
  •  49
  •  42
    The explanatory limits of cognitive archaeology
    Behavioral and Brain Sciences 25 (3): 410-412. 2002.
    I make two claims about cognitive archaeology. I question its role, seeing psychology as yet another contributor to the archaeological tool-kit rather than as something unique. I then suggest that cognitive archaeology is not in a position to provide evolutionary contexts without other disciplines. As a consequence it cannot deliver on the provision of evolutionary contexts for cognitive evolution.
  •  33
    Thinking tools: Acquired skills, cultural niche construction, and thinking with things
    Behavioral and Brain Sciences 35 (4): 228-229. 2012.
    The investigative strategy that Vaesen uses presumes that cognitive skills are to some extent hardwired; developmentally plastic traits would not provide the relevant comparative information. But recent views of cognition that stress external resources, and evolutionary accounts such as cultural niche construction, urge us to think carefully about the role of technology in shaping cognition
  •  28
    The evolution of cognition literature is dominated by views that presume the evolution of underlying neural structures. However, recent models of cognition reemphasize the role of physiological structures, development, and external resources as important components of cognition. This article argues that these alternative models of cognition challenge our understanding of human cognitive evolution. As a case study, it focuses on rehabilitating bipedalism as a crucial moment in human evolution. Th…Read more
  •  27
    Dead men telling tales: Homo fossils and what to do with them (review)
    Biology and Philosophy 19 (1): 159-165. 2004.
  •  7
    Rational agency in evolutionary perspective
    In Timothy O'Connor & Constantine Sandis (eds.), A Companion to the Philosophy of Action, Wiley-blackwell. 2010.
    This chapter contains sections titled: Introduction Rational Agents and the Conceptual Background Beyond Homo economicus Informational Resources A Poisoned Chalice? What Is to Be Done? References.
  •  1
    This chapter contains sections titled: The Interpretive Dilemma Archaeology and Philosophy Middle Range Theory The Science of Archaeology Where Do Hypotheses Come From? Cognitive Archaeology and the Archaeology of Cognition Darwinian and Biological Archaeology Environmental Archaeology Archaeology as Social Science References Further Reading.
  •  1
    Science Advice in New Zealand: opportunities for development
    Policy Quarterly 15 (2): 62-71. 2019.
    What is the state of play for science advice to the government and Parliament? After almost ten years with a prime minister’s chief science advisor, are there lessons to be learnt? How can we continue to ensure that science advice is effective, balanced, transparent and rigorous, while at the same time balancing the need for discretion and confidentiality? In this article, we suggest that the hallmarks of good science – transparency and peer review – can be balanced against the need to provi…Read more