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571Evolutionary 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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6The 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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51Scientific Method: The Hypothetico-Experimental Laboratory Procedure of the Physical Sciences (review)Philosophy of Science 40 (3): 467-468. 1973.
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7Normalizing 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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38The 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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28The 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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12William 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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17Book Review:Metaphysics and the Philosophy of Science Gerd Buchdahl (review)Philosophy of Science 39 (2): 267-. 1972.
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36The 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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10The Philosophy of Biology by David L. Hull and Michael Ruse (review)Quarterly Review of Biology 74 (4): 453-454. 1999.
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18Letters: the Grand Competition ContinuesRussell: The Journal of Bertrand Russell Studies 12. 2014.
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47Evolution and normativityIn Mohan Matthen & Christopher Stephens (eds.), Philosophy of Biology, Elsevier. pp. 201. 2007.
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7Recent Work on Criteria for Event Identity, 1967-1979Philosophy Research Archives 9 29-77. 1983.The paper reviews the arguments for and against a number of criteria for event identity. The proliferation of such criteria in the 1970’s raises the question of how one is to choose between them. Eight adequacy conditions, whose own adequacy has been argued for elsewhere, are determined to be insufticient for deciding among the criteria. Some concluding remarks about the role of the adequacy conditions and the problem of choosing a criterion are offered. Finally, questions about the nature of an…Read more
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8Darwinism and the Moral Status of AnimalsIn Dag Prawitz & Dag Westerståhl (eds.), Logic and Philosophy of Science in Uppsala, Kluwer Academic Publishers. pp. 499--509. 1994.
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183Polanyi on the meno paradoxPhilosophy of Science 41 (2): 203. 1974.In [1] Michael Polanyi argues that in order to understand how scientists come to recognize problems as problems, we must invoke a concept of “tacit knowing.” Tacit knowledge is a kind of knowledge of which we are aware but which cannot be made explicit. Polanyi argues that a paradox discussed in the Meno cannot be solved without appeal to this notion of tacit knowledge. Here I want to argue, quite simply, that Polanyi's formulation of the “paradox” can be easily subverted without an appeal to ta…Read more
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51A clash of competing metaphorsBehavioral and Brain Sciences 22 (5): 887-887. 1999.Metaphors have three important functions in scientific discourse: heuristic, rhetorical, and epistemic. I argue that, contrary to prevailing opinion, metaphors are indispensable components of scientific methodology as well as scientific communication. Insofar as the choice of metaphors reflects ideological commitments, all science is ideological. The philosophically vexed question is how to characterize the sense in which science is not merely ideological.
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52Michael H. Robins, 1941-2002Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association 76 (5). 2003.This is an obituary for Michael H. Robins.
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49What does evolutionary biology tell us about philosophy and religion?Zygon 29 (1): 45-54. 1994.Considerations from evolutionary biology lead Michael Ruse, among others, to a naturalistic turn in philosophy. I assess some of the pragmatic and skeptical conclusions concerning ethics, religion, and epistemology that Ruse draws from his evolutionary naturalism. Finally, I argue that there is an essential tension between science and religion which forecloses the possibility of an ultimate reconciliation between the two as they are now understood.