•  321
    This volume introduces readers to emergence theory, outlines the major arguments in its defence, and summarizes the most powerful objections against it. It provides the clearest explication yet of this exciting new theory of science, which challenges the reductionist approach by proposing the continuous emergence of novel phenomena.
  •  234
  •  140
    Information and the nature of reality: from physics to metaphysics (edited book)
    with Niels Henrik Gregersen
    Cambridge University Press. 2010.
    Many scientists regard mass and energy as the primary currency of nature. In recent years, however, the concept of information has gained importance. In this book, eminent scientists, philosophers, and theologians chart various aspects of information, from quantum information to biological and digital information, in order to understand how nature works. Beginning with a historical treatment of the topic, the book also examines physical and biological approaches to information, and the philosoph…Read more
  •  106
    Malfunctions
    Biology and Philosophy 15 (1): 19-38. 2000.
    A persistent boast of the historical approach to functions is that functional properties are normative. The claim is that a token trait retains its functional status even when it is defective, diseased, or damaged and consequently unable to perform the relevant task. This is because historical functional categories are defined in terms of some sort of historical success -- success in natural selection, typically -- which imposes a norm upon the performance of descendent tokens. Descendents thus …Read more
  •  104
    Sober on Brandon on screening-off and the levels of selection
    with Robert N. Brandon, Janis Antonovics, Richard Burian, Scott Carson, Greg Cooper, Christopher Horvath, Brent D. Mishler, Robert C. Richardson, Kelly Smith, and Peter Thrall
    Philosophy of Science 61 (3): 475-486. 1994.
    Sober (1992) has recently evaluated Brandon's (1982, 1990; see also 1985, 1988) use of Salmon's (1971) concept of screening-off in the philosophy of biology. He critiques three particular issues, each of which will be considered in this discussion
  •  103
    Evolutionary Psychology as Maladapted Psychology ROBERT C. RICHARDSON Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2007 248 pages, ISBN: 0-262-18260-2 (hbk); $30.00 “Just about anything is consistent with some evolut...
  •  99
    'Defending' Direct Proper Functions
    Analysis 55 (4): 299. 1995.
  •  95
    The search for extra-terrestrial intelligence (SETI) raises a number of scientific/philosophical questions. If we are the only conscious, intelligent species in the galaxy, why? If we are not, given that other cultures must be more technically advanced than us, why haven't we met them yet?
  •  87
    The Nature of the Laws of Physics and Their Mysterious Bio-Friendliness
    In Melville Y. Stewart (ed.), Science and Religion in Dialogue, Wiley-blackwell. pp. 767--788. 2010.
    This chapter contains sections titled: * 1 The Universe Is Weirdly Fine-Tuned for Life * 2 The Cosmic Code * 3 The Concept of Laws * 4 Are the Laws Real? * 5 Does a Multiverse Explain the Goldilocks Enigma? * 6 Many Scientists Hate the Multiverse Idea * 7 Who Designed the Multiverse? * 8 If There Were a Unique Final Theory, God Would Be Redundant * 9 What Exists and What Doesn’t: Who or What Gets to Decide? * 10 The Origin of the Rule That Separates What Exists From What Doesn’t * 11 Why Mind Ma…Read more
  •  87
    Fred Dretske asserts that the conscious or phenomenal experiences associated with our perceptual states—e.g. the qualitative or subjective features involved in visual or auditory states—are identical to properties that things have according to our representations of them. This is Dretske's version of the currently popular representational theory of consciousness . After explicating the core of Dretske's representational thesis, I offer two criticisms. I suggest that Dretske's view fails to apply…Read more
  •  71
    Discovering the functional mesh: On the methods of evolutionary psychology (review)
    Minds and Machines 6 (4): 559-585. 1996.
      The aim of this paper is to clarify and critically assess the methods of evolutionary psychology, and offer a sketch of an alternative methodology. My thesis is threefold. (1) The methods of inquiry unique to evolutionary psychology rest upon the claim that the discovery of theadaptive functions of ancestral psychological capacities leads to the discovery of thepsychological functions of those ancestral capacities. (2) But this claim is false; in fact, just the opposite is true. We first must …Read more
  •  66
    Logical reasoning and domain specificity: A critique of the social exchange theory of reasoning
    with James H. Fetzer and Thomas R. Foster
    Biology and Philosophy 10 (1): 1-37. 1995.
    The social exchange theory of reasoning, which is championed by Leda Cosmides and John Tooby, falls under the general rubric “evolutionary psychology” and asserts that human reasoning is governed by content-dependent, domain-specific, evolutionarily-derived algorithms. According to Cosmides and Tooby, the presumptive existence of what they call “cheater-detection” algorithms disconfirms the claim that we reason via general-purpose mechanisms or via inductively acquired principles. We contend tha…Read more
  •  65
    Troubles for direct proper functions
    Noûs 28 (3): 363-381. 1994.
  •  62
    Being human while trying to scientifically study human nature confronts us with our most vexing problem. Efforts to explicate the human mind are thwarted by our cultural biases and entrenched infirmities; our first-person experiences as practical agents convince us that we have capacities beyond the reach of scientific explanation. What we need to move forward in our understanding of human agency, Paul Sheldon Davies argues, is a reform in the way we study ourselves and a long overdue break with…Read more
  •  55
    Darwinizing debunking arguments
    Ratio 32 (4): 275-289. 2019.
    To ‘Darwinize’ a debunking argument is to broaden and thereby strengthen it in ways inspired by Charles Darwin. It is to employ Darwinian strategies that converge on the conclusion that certain putative phenomena – the reality of stance‐independent moral properties, for instance – are illusory or epistemically problematic for animals like us. The aim of this essay is to defend one such strategy and illustrate its power relative to most evolutionary debunking arguments currently on offer.
  •  51
    Unmasking self-deception (review)
    Philosophia 32 (1-4): 413-417. 2005.
  •  45
    The Excesses of Teleosemantics
    Canadian Journal of Philosophy 31 (Supplement): 117-137. 2001.
  •  44
    Does past selective efficacy matter to psychology?
    Behavioral and Brain Sciences 25 (4): 513-514. 2002.
    Andrews et al. subscribe to the view that distinguishing selectionist from nonselectionist hypotheses – or, distinguishing adaptations from mere spandrels or exaptations – is important to the study of psychology. I offer three reasons for thinking that this view is false; that considerations of past selective efficacy have little to contribute to inquiry in psychology.
  •  41
    The Excesses of Teleosemantics
    Canadian Journal of Philosophy 31 (sup1): 117-137. 2001.
    Teleosemantics asserts that mental content is determined by natural selection. The thesis is that content is fixed by the historical conditions under which certain cognitive mechanisms—those that produce and those that interpret representational states—were selectively successful. Content is fixed by conditions of selective success. The thesis of this paper is that teleosemantics is mistaken, that content cannot be fixed by conditions of selective success, because those conditions typically outn…Read more
  •  39
    Giving Reasons for What We Do
    Southwest Philosophy Review 32 (1): 135-144. 2016.
  •  37
    Book reviews (review)
    Philosophia 24 (3-4): 531-558. 1995.
  •  36
    From Matter to Life: Information and Causality (edited book)
    with Sara Imari Walker and George F. R. Ellis
    Cambridge University Press. 2017.
    This book tackles the most difficult and profound open questions about life and its origins from an information-based perspective.
  •  23
    Targeting cancer's weaknesses (not its strengths): Therapeutic strategies suggested by the atavistic model
    with Charles H. Lineweaver and Mark D. Vincent
    Bioessays 36 (9): 827-835. 2014.
    In the atavistic model of cancer progression, tumor cell dedifferentiation is interpreted as a reversion to phylogenetically earlier capabilities. The more recently evolved capabilities are compromised first during cancer progression. This suggests a therapeutic strategy for targeting cancer: design challenges to cancer that can only be met by the recently evolved capabilities no longer functional in cancer cells. We describe several examples of this target‐the‐weakness strategy. Our most detail…Read more
  •  12
    Complexity and the Arrow of Time (edited book)
    with Charles H. Lineweaver and Michael Ruse
    Cambridge University Press. 2013.
    There is a widespread assumption that the universe in general, and life in particular, is 'getting more complex with time'. This book brings together a wide range of experts in science, philosophy and theology and unveils their joint effort in exploring this idea. They confront essential problems behind the theory of complexity and the role of life within it: what is complexity? When does it increase, and why? Is the universe evolving towards states of ever greater complexity and diversity? If s…Read more
  •  11
    Putting guidelines into practice: a tailored multi‐modal approach to improve post‐operative assessments
    with John A. Ford, Craig MacKay, Chris Peach, and Malcolm Loudon
    Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice 19 (1): 106-111. 2013.
  •  10
    Infrared Acceleration Radiation
    Foundations of Physics 53 (3): 1-11. 2023.
    We present an exactly soluble electron trajectory that permits an analysis of the soft (deep infrared) radiation emitted, the existence of which has been experimentally observed during beta decay via lowest order inner bremsstrahlung. Our treatment also predicts the time evolution and temperature of the emission, and possibly the spectrum, by analogy with the closely related phenomenon of the dynamic Casimir effect.