Monthly Archives: February 2010
McCarthy and the autism demon
Jenny McCarthy has long campaigned against vaccination because her son “acquired” autism after being immunised, and lost the ability to speak. She has since claimed that she has managed to give him (non-medically recognised) therapy that has improved his abilities. … Continue reading
Filed under Politics, Pop culture, Science
A schism in the Church of Dick
I know, it’s just schadenfreude on my part and it’s so very childish, but I can’t help it. The Church of Dick has undergone a schism, with the prophet anathematising previously loyal followers. But, and I state this for the … Continue reading
Filed under Evolution, Philosophy, Religion, Science
Fodor and Piattelli-Palmarini on natural selection
As R. A. Fisher once noted, Evolution is not Natural Selection, but critics in Darwin’s day and since have focused on this aspect of his theory. The most recent is by a philosopher, Jerry Fodor, and cognitive scientist, Massimo Piattelli-Palmarin. … Continue reading
Filed under Epistemology, Evolution, Philosophy, Science
Who started the rumor that Darwin doesn't explain the origin of species in the Origin?
In my book I had thought that it was the George Campbell, Duke of Argyll, and I have just found this, by E. B. Poulton: The Duke of Argyll in his address1 to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, December 5, … Continue reading
Filed under Evolution, History, Species concept
The Ontological Fallacy
The term ontological fallacy has great currency in social philosophy, where it is used to denote the mistake of assuming that because there is a term for something, like a social institution, that the object it denotes really exists. A … Continue reading
Filed under Philosophy
A good summary article on intuitions in biology
The Studia Philosophica Estonia is not a journal I regularly read, but this article – “The Role of Intuitions in Philosophy” – is a good introduction to the topic, and it’s free. I tend to think that “intuition” is an … Continue reading
Filed under Philosophy
The best scientific ideas
Over on talk.origins Roger Ebert’s review of The Creation, a film about Darwin’s private life, was mentioned, which starts out Darwin, it is generally agreed, had the most important idea in the history of science. Thinkers had been feeling their … Continue reading
Filed under History, Philosophy, Science
The founder of the history of ideas
Gary Nelson has pointed me at this article on Arthur Lovejoy, the founder of the history of ideas movement that I count myself part of. It is an interesting take on what Lovejoy was doing, a kind of cultural evolution … Continue reading
Filed under History, Philosophy
More link!
How Many Innocent People Are In Prison? by Ed Brayton at his blog Dispatches from the Culture Wars. A man with a strange name. « The Renaissance Mathematicus by Thony C, on Kepler and Galileo. Five Questions About Lysogeny by … Continue reading
Filed under Australian stuff, General Science, History, Humor, Politics, Pop culture, Religion, Science, Social dominance
