Category Archives: General Science

by | January 15, 2012

Notes on Novelty 8: Conclusion – Post evo-devo

Notes on Novelty series: 1. Introduction 2. Historical considerations – before and after evolution 3: The meaning of evolutionary novelty 4: Examples – the beetle’s horns and the turtle’s shell 5: Evolutionary radiations and individuation 6: Levels of description 7: Surprise! 8: Conclusion – Post evo-devo … Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under Epistemology, Evolution, General Science, Logic and philosophy, Metaphysics, Natural Classification, Philosophy, Science, Species and systematics, Truisms

by | December 15, 2011

Attack of the Unlibrarian

I am generally fairly IT savvy (I even have an ancient IT degree), but at the same time I am rather unconvinced that the future is as digital as everyone says. In particular I have been appalled at the constant … Continue reading →

8 Comments

Filed under Academe, Education, General Science, Journalism, Politics

by | November 15, 2011

Science is not a religion, nor does it involve faith

Suppose you had a friend who saw the world in terms solely of his football team. If you are discussing politics, he refers to the boardroom of the team; if you are talking morality, the on-field ethics of his favourites … Continue reading →

25 Comments

Filed under Epistemology, General Science, Philosophy, Religion, Science

by | October 27, 2011

The mind of the ecological engineer

I watched a very interesting documentary episode recently, entitled “All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace” (a phrase of poet Richard Brautigan’s), in which the maker Adam Curtis put forward the view that ecology was founded (at least in … Continue reading →

29 Comments

Filed under Ecology and Biodiversity, Evolution, General Science, Logic and philosophy, Metaphysics, Philosophy, Science

by | September 7, 2011

The taxonomy of disease

A letter in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery has argued that it is time to reform the taxonomy of disease. The authors are Ismail Kola, head of a pharmaceutics company, and Sir John Bell, Regius Professor at Oxford. The taxonomy of … Continue reading →

10 Comments

Filed under Biology, General Science, Natural Classification, Systematics

by | August 14, 2011

Passing thoughts on Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Spoilers. Look away. As usual Hollywood cannot present how scientists actually do their work. But Rise is a much better film than I expected. For a start, the social dominance behaviours of primates was well presented, along with submission behaviours, … Continue reading →

5 Comments

Filed under General Science, Pop culture, Social dominance

by | August 9, 2011

Downward Causation

The final claim for there being an ontological sense to emergence is “downward causation“, a phrase coined by the evolutionary epistemologist Donald Campbell in the 1970s. The idea here is that emergence is real because higher-level (or bigger, composite) entities … Continue reading →

23 Comments

Filed under Biology, Epistemology, Ethics and Moral Philosophy, Evolution, General Science, Logic and philosophy, Metaphysics, Philosophy, Science

by | July 25, 2011

What should evolutionary psychology comprise?

Recently there have been a number of posts and comments on evolutionary psychology. A new paper in PLoS Biology argues that human brain evolution since the “stone age” (really?) has been rapid and multifaceted. And there are renewed calls for … Continue reading →

23 Comments

Filed under Epistemology, Evolution, General Science, Natural Classification, Social dominance, Social evolution

by | July 20, 2011

On Hauser

Marc Hauser, the primatologist psychologist at Harvard who recently was accused of mistreating evidence and graduate students, has resigned. I am in two minds about this. His work, although I am unconvinced by some of it, was very important, and … Continue reading →

6 Comments

Filed under Biology, General Science, Science

by | June 16, 2011

My article in Times Higher Education Magazine

Is here (scroll down), based on a prior post on this blog. In it I make the somewhat radical suggestion that medial and legal degrees should be removed from universities also. One of the commentators there took issue: I worry … Continue reading →

13 Comments

Filed under Academe, Education, General Science, Politics