Monthly Archives: April 2011
Is Brian Blessed a monkey or an ape?
One of the recurring creationist attacks on evolution is, “If we evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?” I responded to this once before but it is time to revisit it. Why? Because Marty Robbins has attacked the British … Continue reading
Filed under Education, Epistemology, Evolution, Natural Classification, Philosophy, Systematics
Us, them and the real issue
I think I need to clear the air a bit. In the Synthese posts I have been defending the authors of the special issue to which I contributed. Some may think this has to do with my agreeing with them. … Continue reading
Filed under Academe, Creationism and Intelligent Design, Philosophy, Politics, Religion
A boycott of Synthese
Brian Leiter has suggested a professional boycott of the journal Synthese until they admit their error in the disclaimer case, and I am the contact for messages supporting it from publishing philosophers. Leiter says: I would urge all philosophers to … Continue reading
Filed under Creationism and Intelligent Design, Philosophy, Religion
Conference on religion as an evolutionary byproduct
If you are in the UK, and if you are a postgraduate, there will be a conference on religion as an evolutionary byproduct (the “spandrel” account of religion) at the University of Birmingham on 17 May. They will cover the … Continue reading
Filed under Evolution, Philosophy, Religion
Did Synthese bow to Intelligent Design pressure?
A while back I published a paper in a special edition of Synthese on “Evolution and its rivals”. My paper was titled “Are Creationists Rational?” in which I argued that yes, in a bounded sense they are. I was very … Continue reading
Filed under Academe, Censorship, Creationism and Intelligent Design, Evolution, Philosophy, Politics, Rant, Religion
Need editors for PhilPapers
I edit the Philosophy of Biology section for PhilPapers, “a comprehensive directory of online philosophical articles and books by academic philosophers”. It’s basically assigning categories to record entries, which I do when I am not (as I am now) as … Continue reading
Comments Off
Filed under Administrative, Biology, Philosophy, Science
On the Greens, Israel, and the fallacy of composition
This is likely to upset some people. I apologise in advance. It is also about Australian politics. In Australia recently, the Greens have been making up a lot of ground, becoming in some electorates the second most popular party after … Continue reading
Filed under Australian stuff, Politics
On inclusive fitness
Right now I am busy writing the grant application that determines the next ten years of my life, so excuse my absence. But instead of John Wilkins, let me point you to Jon Wilkins of Lost in Transcription. Jon has … Continue reading
Filed under Evolution
