•  102
    What’s wrong with dogwhistles
    Journal of Social Philosophy 53 (3): 387-403. 2022.
    Journal of Social Philosophy, Volume 53, Issue 3, Page 387-403, Fall 2022.
  •  27
    The reproduction of cultural systems in cases where cultural group selection may occur is typically incomplete, with only certain cultural traits being adopted by less successful cultural groups. Why a particular trait and not another is transmitted might not be explained by cultural group selection. We explore this issue through the case of religious syncretism.
  •  16
  •  14
    COVID-19, other zoonotic diseases and wildlife conservation
    History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 42 (4): 1-3. 2020.
    Many experts have warned that environmental degradation is increasing the likelihood of future pandemics like COVID-19, as habitat loss and poaching increase close contact between wildlife and people. This fact has been framed as a reason to increase wildlife conservation efforts. We have many good reasons to step up conservation efforts, but arguments for doing so on the basis of pandemic prevention are rhetorically, ethically, and empricially flawed.
  •  87
    Supposedly, stubbornness on the part of scientists—an unwillingness to change one’s position on a scientific issue even in the face of countervailing evidence—helps efficiently divide scientific labor. Maintaining disagreement is important because it keeps scientists pursuing a diversity of leads rather than all working on the most promising, and stubbornness helps preserve this disagreement. Planck’s observation that “Science progresses one funeral at a time” might therefore be an insight into …Read more