• University of Exeter
    Department of Sociology, Philosophy and Anthropology
    Egenis, Centre for the Study of Life Sciences
    Professor
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
  •  5
    Analytic metaphysics has recently discovered biology as a means of grounding metaphysical theories. This has resulted in long-standing metaphysical puzzles, such as the problems of personal identity and material constitution, being increasingly addressed by appeal to a biological understanding of identity. This development within metaphysics is in significant tension with the growing tendency amongst philosophers of biology to regard biological identity as a deep puzzle in its own right, especia…Read more
  •  10
    Analytic metaphysics has recently discovered biology as a means of grounding metaphysical theories. This has resulted in long-standing metaphysical puzzles, such as the problems of personal identity and material constitution, being increasingly addressed by appeal to a biological understanding of identity. This development within metaphysics is in significant tension with the growing tendency amongst philosophers of biology to regard biological identity as a deep puzzle in its own right, especia…Read more
  •  70
    John Dupr explores recent revolutionary developments in biology and considers their relevance for our understanding of human nature and society. He reveals how the advance of genetic science is changing our view of the constituents of life, and shows how an understanding of microbiology will overturn standard assumptions about the living world
  •  6
    On Human Nature
    Human Affairs 13 (2): 109-122. 2003.
  •  2
    Reductionism
    In W. H. Newton‐Smith (ed.), A Companion to the Philosophy of Science, Blackwell. 2017.
    The term “reductionism” is used broadly for any claim that some range of phenomena can be fully assimilated to some other, apparently distinct range of phenomena. The logical positivist thesis that scientific truth could be fully analyzed into reports of immediate experience was a reductionistic thesis of great significance in the history of the philosophy of science (see logical positivism). In recent philosophy of science, “reductionism” is generally used more specifically to refer to the thes…Read more
  •  3
    Natural Kinds
    In W. H. Newton‐Smith (ed.), A Companion to the Philosophy of Science, Blackwell. 2017.
    A central aspect of science is the classification of natural phenomena. Not only is this to some extent an end in itself, an account of what kinds of things there are being an important part of the picture of the world that science aims to provide. but classification is also inextricably connected with the development of scientific theories. The change from phlogiston theory to atomic chemistry, for example, involved not just a different theory but an entirely new way of sorting the domain of ch…Read more
  •  4
    ELLIOTT SOBER Did Darwin Write The Origin Backwards? Philosophical Essays on Darwin’s Theory (review)
    British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 64 (4): 889-893. 2013.
  • 4. The Polygenomic Organism
    In Sarah S. Richardson & Hallam Stevens (eds.), Postgenomics: Perspectives on Biology after the Genome, Duke University Press. pp. 56-72. 2015.
  •  10
    The Structure of Biological Science
    Philosophy of Science 53 (3): 461-463. 1986.
  •  126
    The Metaphysics of Evolution
    Interface Focus 7 (5): 1-9. 2017.
    This paper briefly describes process metaphysics, and argues that it is better suited for describing life than the more standard thing, or substance, metaphysics. It then explores the implications of process metaphysics for conceptualizing evolution. After explaining what it is for an organism to be a process, the paper takes up the Hull/Ghiselin thesis of species as individuals and explores the conditions under which a species or lineage could constitute an individual process. It is argued that…Read more
  •  37
    Whether we live in a world of autonomous things, or a world of interconnected processes in constant flux, is an ancient philosophical debate. Modern biology provides decisive reasons for embracing the latter view. How does one understand the practices and outputs of science in such a dynamic, ever-changing world - and particularly in an emergency situation such as the COVID-19 pandemic, where scientific knowledge has been regarded as bedrock for decisive social interventions? We argue that key t…Read more
  •  4
  •  6
    2 The Miracle of Monism
    In Mario De Caro & David Macarthur (eds.), Naturalism in Question, Harvard University Press. pp. 36-58. 2004.
  •  25
    Causally powerful processes
    Synthese 199 (3-4): 10667-10683. 2021.
    Processes produce changes: rivers erode their banks and thunderstorms cause floods. If I am right that organisms are a kind of process, then the causally efficacious behaviours of organisms are also examples of processes producing change. In this paper I shall try to articulate a view of how we should think of causation within a broadly processual ontology of the living world. Specifically, I shall argue that causation, at least in a central class of cases, is the interaction of processes, that …Read more
  •  53
    Humans and Other Animals
    Clarendon Press. 2002.
    John Dupré explores the ways in which we categorize animals, including humans, and comes to refreshingly radical conclusions. He opposes the idea that there is only one legitimate way of classifying things in the natural world, the 'scientific' way. The lesson we should learn from Darwin is to reject the idea that each organism has an essence that determines its necessary place in the unique hierarchy of things. Nature is not like that: it is not organized in a single system. For instance, there…Read more
  •  24
    The Metaphysics of Biology
    Cambridge University Press. 2021.
    This Element is an introduction to the metaphysics of biology, a very general account of the nature of the living world. The first part of the Element addresses more traditionally philosophical questions - whether biological systems are reducible to the properties of their physical parts, causation and laws of nature, substantialist and processualist accounts of life, and the nature of biological kinds. The second half will offer an understanding of important biological entities, drawing on the …Read more
  •  30
    Review of Robert N. Brandon: Concepts and Methods in Evolutionary Biology (review)
    British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 48 (2): 292-296. 1997.
    This book is a collection of essays by a leading philosopher of biology and spans his career over almost the last twenty years. Most of the topics that have been of concern to philosophers of biology in this period are touched on to some extent, and the collection of these essays in a convenient volume will certainly be welcomed by everyone working in this field. The essays are arranged chronologically, and divided into three sections. Although the chapters in the first section have substantial …Read more
  •  10
    How Do Scientists Define Openness? Exploring the Relationship Between Open Science Policies and Research Practice
    with David Castle, Dagmara Weckowska, Sabina Leonelli, and Nadine Levin
    Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society 36 (2): 128-141. 2016.
    This article documents how biomedical researchers in the United Kingdom understand and enact the idea of “openness.” This is of particular interest to researchers and science policy worldwide in view of the recent adoption of pioneering policies on Open Science and Open Access by the U.K. government—policies whose impact on and implications for research practice are in need of urgent evaluation, so as to decide on their eventual implementation elsewhere. This study is based on 22 in-depth interv…Read more
  •  136
    Life as Process
    Epistemology and Philosophy of Science 57 (2): 96-113. 2020.
    The thesis of this paper is that our understanding of life, as reflected in the biological and medical sciences but also in our everyday transactions, has been hampered by an inappropriate metaphysics. The metaphysics that has dominated Western philosophy, and that currently shapes most understanding of life and the life sciences, sees the world as composed of things and their properties. While these things appear to undergo all kinds of changes, it has often been supposed that this amounts to n…Read more
  • Philosophy of Biology
    British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 45 (4): 1084-1087. 1994.
  •  19
    Interview: John Dupré
    Philosophy Now 133 20-22. 2019.
  • Humans and other Animals
    Revue Philosophique de la France Et de l'Etranger 194 (1): 135-136. 2004.
  •  1
    Human Nature and the Limits of Science
    Revue Philosophique de la France Et de l'Etranger 194 (1): 134-135. 2004.
  •  1
    Review of Robert N. Brandon: Concepts and Methods in Evolutionary Biology (review)
    British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 48 (2): 292-296. 1997.
  • Humans and Other Animals
    Tijdschrift Voor Filosofie 69 (2): 374-375. 2007.