•  9
    An Inverted Qualia Argument for Direct Realism
    Topoi 43 (1): 211-219. 2024.
    This essay extends my “invisible disagreement” argument for Color Realism (2017) to formulate an argument for Direct Realism. It uses a variation of an “inverted qualia” thought experiment to show that successes in intersubjectively validating empirical claims about colors is proof that a nuanced version of Direct Realism is correct.
  •  2
    Environmental Robots and Climate Action
    In Pellegrino Gianfranco & Marcello Di Paola (eds.), Handbook of Philosophy of Climate Change, Springer Nature. pp. 151-161. 2023.
    Van Wynsberghe and Donhauser (2018), Donhauser (2019), and Donhauser, van Wynsberghe, and Bearden (2021) discuss the Ethics of Environmental Robots. Scientists explore using various types of robots to address unprecedented environmental challenges caused by climate change. This chapter expands on previous research, exploring new roles, human dependence, environmental mitigation strategies, and contributions to life and environmental health. Few works exist on Environmental Robots. This lack of c…Read more
  •  3
    Metalhead and Technophobia
    with Scott Midson
    In David Kyle Johnson (ed.), Black Mirror and Philosophy, Wiley. 2019.
    It's clear that robodogs in Metalhead are deadly and dangerous, but exactly what makes them so? Using Daniel Dinello's examination of technophobia and our cultural fears of technologies, this chapter explores different aspects of our fears of robodogs and, indeed, other robots that we might encounter. On one level, for example, the robodogs present a concrete threat to Bella and her ill‐fated troupe, but the robodogs also present us with a challenge to how we think about humans, including our ab…Read more
  •  22
    This paper illuminates primary epistemic functions of teleological characterizations in ecology through discussion of the historical and conceptual origins of the theoretical branch of ecology (§§1–2). I subsequently defuse enduring confusions about the use of teleological characterizations in ecology; with a focus on recent critical arguments by Sagoff in this journal (Sagoff, Synthese 193:3003–3024, 2016) and some other places (e.g., his Sagoff, Ethics, Policy, and Environment 16:239–257, 2013…Read more
  •  118
    Environmental advisory institutions around the world operate under the assumption that theoretical ecological models (TEMs) can guide decision-making about environmental policy and natural resource management. At the same time, leading ecologists and philosophers continue to point out that it is unclear exactly how such models can usefully inform such decision-making. Much critical debate about whether and how ecology can inform practical decisions centers on confusions that are due to the fact …Read more
  •  7
    How to make value-driven climate science for policy more ethical
    Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 89 (C): 31-40. 2021.
  •  18
    HCs and ASDs
    Medical Hypotheses 141. 2020.
    This paper defends the hypothesis of a potential causal link between increased usage of hormonal contraceptives (HCs) and significant rises in instances of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) worldwide. It develops a background theory that supports this hypothesis through analysis of: observed correlations between increased usage of HCs and increased instances of ASDs; consistent evidence from independent studies linking “birth spacing” intervals and ASD-risk; evidence from studies on the effects o…Read more
  •  28
    Steps Toward an Ethics of Environmental Robotics
    Philosophy and Technology 34 (3): 507-524. 2020.
    New robotics technologies are being used for environmental research, and engineers and ecologists are exploring ways of integrating an array of different sorts of robots into ecosystems as a means of responding to the unprecedented environmental changes that mark the onset of the Anthropocene. These efforts introduce new roles that robots may play in our environments, potentially crucial new forms of human dependence on such robots, and new ways that robots can enhance life quality and environme…Read more
  •  24
    The problem of mooted models for analyses of microbiome causality
    with Sara Worley, Michael Bradie, and Juan L. Bouzat
    Biology and Philosophy 34 (6): 1-6. 2019.
    Lynch, Parke, and O’Malley highlight the need for better evaluative criteria for causal explanations in microbiome research. They propose new interventionist criteria, show that paradigmatic examples of microbiome explanations are flawed using those criteria, and suggest numerous ways microbiome explanations can be improved. While we endorse their primary criticisms and suggestions for improvements in microbiome research, we make several observations regarding the use of mooted causal models in …Read more
  •  18
    The problem of mooted models for analyses of microbiome causality
    with Sara Worley, Michael Bradie, and Juan L. Bouzat
    Biology and Philosophy 34 (6): 57. 2019.
    Lynch, Parke, and O’Malley highlight the need for better evaluative criteria for causal explanations in microbiome research. They propose new interventionist criteria, show that paradigmatic examples of microbiome explanations are flawed using those criteria, and suggest numerous ways microbiome explanations can be improved. While we endorse their primary criticisms and suggestions for improvements in microbiome research, we make several observations regarding the use of mooted causal models in …Read more
  •  35
    Internalizing Negative Externalities of Carbon Emissions for Climate Justice
    Ethics, Policy and Environment 22 (2): 131-134. 2019.
    Sayegh’s discussion highlights the moral relevance of carbon-taxing by showing how such taxes can enable responses to climate injustices. This is by serving as a means of getting countries to inter...
  •  31
    While many recognise that rigid historical and compositional goals are inadequate in a world where climate and other global systems are undergoing unprecedented changes, others contend that promoting ecosystem services and functions encourages practices that can ultimately lower the bar of ecological management. These worries are foregrounded in discussions about 'novel ecosystems' (NEs), where some researchers and conservationists claim that NEs provide a license to trash nature as long as cert…Read more
  •  12
    The Dawning of the Ethics of Environmental Robots
    Science and Engineering Ethics 24 (6): 1777-1800. 2018.
    Environmental scientists and engineers have been exploring research and monitoring applications of robotics, as well as exploring ways of integrating robotics into ecosystems to aid in responses to accelerating environmental, climatic, and biodiversity changes. These emerging applications of robots and other autonomous technologies present novel ethical and practical challenges. Yet, the critical applications of robots for environmental research, engineering, protection and remediation have rece…Read more
  •  69
    Informative ecological models without ecological forces
    Synthese 197 (6): 2721-2743. 2020.
    Sagoff (2016) criticizes widely used “theoretical” methods in ecology; arguing that those methods employ models that rely on problematic metaphysical assumptions and are therefore uninformative and useless for practical decision-making. In this paper, I show that Sagoff misconstrues how such model-based methods work in practice, that the main threads of his argument are problematic, and that his substantive conclusions are consequently unfounded. Along the way, I illuminate several ways the mo…Read more
  •  64
    Knowledge transfer in theoretical ecology: Implications for incommensurability, voluntarism, and pluralism
    with Jamie Shaw
    Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 77 11-20. 2019.
    Well-known epistemologies of science have implications for how best to understand knowledge transfer (KT). Yet, to date, no serious attempt has been made explicate these particular implications. This paper infers views about KT from two popular epistemologies; what we characterize as incommensurabilitist views (after Devitt 2001; Bird 2002, 2008; Sankey and Hoyningen-Huene 2013) and voluntarist views (after van Fraassen 1984; Dupré 2001; Chakravartty 2015). We argue views of the former sort defi…Read more
  •  474
    Value claims about ecological entities, their functionality, and properties take center stage in so-called “ecological” ethical and aesthetic theories. For example, the claim that the biodiversity in an old-growth forest imbues it with “value in and for itself” is an explicit value claim about an ecological property. And the claim that one can study “the aesthetics of nature, including natural objects...such as ecosystems” presupposes that natural instances of a type of ecological entity exist a…Read more
  •  67
    How New Climate Science and Policy Can Help Climate Refugees
    Journal of Ethical Urban Living 2 (1): 1-21. 2018.
    This paper examines potential responses to emerging ‘climate refugee’ justice issues. ‘Climate refugee’ describes migrants forced to flee their homeland due to losses and damages brought about by events linked to global climate change. These include losses and damages due to extreme weather events, severe droughts and floods, sea-level rise, and an array of pollutant contamination issues. A paradigm case if climate refugeedom is seen in the influx of Peruvian immigrants into various North Americ…Read more
  •  40
    Presidential candidate Trump vehemently denied the reality of climate change. However, President Trump and his administration have not officially taken this position. This may be because it would m...
  •  69
    While many recognize that rigid historical and compositional goals are inadequate in a world where climate and other global systems are undergoing unprecedented changes, others contend that promoting ecosystem services and functions encourages practices that can ultimately lower the bar of ecological management. These worries are foregrounded in discussions about Novel Ecosystems (NEs); where some researchers and conservationists claim that NEs provide a license to trash nature as long as some e…Read more
  • What Theoretical Ecology Reveals about Knowledge Transfer
    with Jamie Shaw
    Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 1-20. forthcoming.
    Well-known epistemologies of science have implications for how best to understand knowledge transfer (KT). Yet, to date, no serious attempt has been made to explicate these particular implications. This paper infers views about KT from two popular epistemologies; what we characterize as incommensurabilitist views (after Devitt, 2001; Bird, 2002, 2008; Sankey and Hoyningen-Huene 2013) and voluntarist views (after Van Fraassen, 1984; Dupré, 2001; Chakravartty, 2015). We argue views of the former s…Read more
  •  46
    The Dawning of the Ethics of Environmental Robots
    Science and Engineering Ethics 24 (6): 1777-1800
    Environmental scientists and engineers have been exploring research and monitoring applications of robotics, as well as exploring ways of integrating robotics into ecosystems to aid in responses to accelerating environmental, climatic, and biodiversity changes. These emerging applications of robots and other autonomous technologies present novel ethical and practical challenges. Yet, the critical applications of robots for environmental research, engineering, protection and remediation have rece…Read more
  •  523
    Differentiating and defusing theoretical Ecology's criticisms: A rejoinder to Sagoff's reply to Donhauser (2016)
    Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 63 70-79. 2017.
    In a (2016) paper in this journal, I defuse allegations that theoretical ecological research is problematic because it relies on teleological metaphysical assumptions. Mark Sagoff offers a formal reply. In it, he concedes that I succeeded in establishing that ecologists abandoned robust teleological views long ago and that they use teleological characterizations as metaphors that aid in developing mechanistic explanations of ecological phenomena. Yet, he contends that I did not give enduring cri…Read more
  •  570
    Theoretical ecology as etiological from the start
    Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 60 67-76. 2016.
    The world’s leading environmental advisory institutions look to ecological theory and research as an objective guide for policy and resource management decision-making. In addition to various theoretical merits of doing so, it is therefore crucially important to clear up confusions about ecology’s conceptual foundations and to make plain the basic workings of inferential methods used in the science. Through discussion of key moments in the genesis of the theoretical branch of ecology, this ess…Read more
  •  64
    The value of weather event science for pending UN climate policy decisions
    Ethics, Policy and Environment (3): 263-278. 2017.
    This essay furthers debate about the burgeoning science of Probabilistic Event Attribution (PEA) and its relevance to imminent climate policy decisions. It critically examines Allen Thompson and Friederike Otto’s recent arguments concerning the implications of PEA studies for how the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) policy framework should be revised during the 2016 ‘review and decision.’ I show that their contention that PEA studies cannot usefully inform decision-…Read more
  • A philosophy of theoretical ecology for environmental policy
    Dissertation, University at Buffalo. 2015.
    This dissertation addresses two questions at the center of critical debate about ecology’s ability to provide scientific guidance in efforts to address mounting environmental problems. The first concerns whether and, if so, how theoretical ecological models (TEMs) can usefully inform environmental policy and resource management decision-making. The second concerns whether and, if so, in what manner the entities such models characterize (i.e., ecological populations, communities, and systems) exi…Read more
  •  489
    Invisible disagreement: an inverted qualia argument for realism
    Philosophical Studies 174 (3): 593-606. 2017.
    Scientific realists argue that a good track record of multi-agent, and multiple method, validation of empirical claims is itself evidence that those claims, at least partially and approximately, reflect ways nature actually is independent of the ways we conceptualize it. Constructivists contend that successes in validating empirical claims only suffice to establish that our ways of modelling the world, our “constructions,” are useful and adequate for beings like us. This essay presents a thought…Read more