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502Evolutionary Epistemology: Two Research Avenues, Three Schools, and A Single and Shared AgendaJournal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 52 (2): 197-209. 2021.This special issue for the Journal for General Philosophy of Science is devoted to exploring the impact and many ramifications of current research in evolutionary epistemology. Evolutionary epistemology is an inter- and multidisciplinary area of research that can be divided into two ever-inclusive research avenues. One research avenue expands on the EEM program and investigates the epistemology of evolution. The other research avenue builds on the EET program and researches the evolution of epis…Read more
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3The Evolution of Scientific LineagesPSA Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1990 (2): 245-254. 1990.The fundamental dialectic of Science as a Process is the interaction between two narrative levels. At one level, the book is a historical narrative of one aspect of one ongoing problem in systematics - the dispute between cladists and more traditional evolutionary taxonomists and amongst the cladists themselves on the correct method of classifying species. This narrative is replete with details of the process whereby scientists promote and publish their ideas. It is an informative and somewhat ‘…Read more
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7Beyond Evolution: Human Nature and the Limits of Evolutionary ExplanationPhilosophical and Phenomenological Research 62 (1): 235-238. 2001.
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5The Moral Status of Animals in Eighteenth-Century British PhilosophyIn , Cambridge University Press. pp. 32-51. 1999.INTRODUCTIONThe contemporary debate over the moral status of animals reflects a mixture of traditions. Utilitarianism, which measures moral standing in terms of the ability to suffer, has been used to defend the widening-circle conception of morality. The difference between humans and other animals vis-à-vis moral standing diminishes in its light. Focusing on questions of agency, conscience, and reflective powers, the differences between humans and nonhumans seem greater. Darwinism has been invo…Read more
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45Scientific Method: The Hypothetico-Experimental Laboratory Procedure of the Physical Sciences (review)Philosophy of Science 40 (3): 467-468. 1973.
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5Normalizing Naturalized EpistemologyThe Paideia Archive: Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy 45 35-40. 1998.The most trenchant criticism of naturalistic approaches to epistemology is that they are unable to successfully deal with norms and questions of justification. Epistemology without norms, it is alleged, is epistemology in name only, an endeavor not worth doing. What one makes of this depends on whether one takes epistemology to be worth doing in the first place. However, I shall argue, it is possible to account for justification within a naturalistic framework broadly construed along Quinean lin…Read more
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31The problem of mooted models for analyses of microbiome causalityBiology 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
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24The problem of mooted models for analyses of microbiome causalityBiology 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
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11William D. Casebeer, Natural Ethical Facts: Evolution, Connectionism, and Moral Cognition. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press , x + 214pp., $35.00 (review)Philosophy of Science 71 (4): 620-623. 2004.
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The Secret Chain: Evolution and EthicsBritish Journal for the Philosophy of Science 47 (2): 317-319. 1996.
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13Book Review:Metaphysics and the Philosophy of Science Gerd Buchdahl (review)Philosophy of Science 39 (2): 267-. 1972.
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33The development of Russell's structural postulatesPhilosophy of Science 44 (3): 441-463. 1977.From 1914 on Russell's epistemology was dominated by the attempt to show how we come by our knowledge of the external world. As he gradually became aware of the inadequacies of the "pure empiricist" approach, Russell realized that his program was viable only insofar as certain postulates of inference were allowed. In this paper I trace the development of the structural postulates from Analysis of Matter to Human Knowledge. The basic continuity of Russell's thought is established. Certain confusi…Read more
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8The Philosophy of Biology by David L. Hull and Michael Ruse (review)Quarterly Review of Biology 74 (4): 453-454. 1999.
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63What's Wrong with Methodological Naturalism?Human Affairs 19 (2). 2009.The compatibility of Darwinism with religious beliefs has been the subject of vigorous debate from 1859 to the present day. Darwin himself did not think that there was any incompatibility between his theory of natural selection and the existence of God. However, he did not think that appeals to the direct or indirect activity of a Creator substantially increased our understanding of any natural phenomenon. In effect, Darwin endorsed what we would today label as ’methodological naturalism,’ rough…Read more
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81Ontic realism and scientific explanationPhilosophy of Science 63 (3): 321. 1996.Wesley Salmon defends an ontic realism that distinguishes explanatory from descriptive knowledge. Explanatory knowledge makes appeals to (unobservable) theoretical acausal mechanisms. Salmon presents an argument designed both to legitimize attributing truth values to theoretical claims and to justify treating theoretical claims as descriptions. The argument succeeds but only at the price of calling the distinction between explanation and description into question. Even if Salmon's attempts to di…Read more
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18Letters: the Grand Competition ContinuesRussell: The Journal of Bertrand Russell Studies 12. 1992.
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16Taking Darwin Seriously: A Naturalistic Approach to Philosophy by Michael Ruse (review)Isis 79 286-287. 1988.
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Reviews: Philosophical Aspects of Science-Complexity and Evolution (review)Annals of Science 55 (4): 428. 1998.