Epistemology Pattern recognition: neither deduction nor induction 27 Jan 201328 Jan 2013 It occurs to me as I read Rosenberg’s Philosophy of Science (2005), that we tend in that field to classify epistemic activities into two kinds: induction (about which we have many arguments as to its warrantability) and deduction (with many arguments about its applicability). But I believe there is something else that… Continue Reading
Epistemology Evopsychopathy 2: The phylogenetic bracket 7 Dec 20122 Jan 2013 As noted, SB and EP have a very unfortunate tendency to reflect the status quo in their results and research questions. This is not unique to them. History, sociology, other fields of psychology (psychotherapy for gods’ sake!), and in my own profession, ethics, all have this “Pull of Privilege”. Somehow… Continue Reading
History The classification of clouds 26 Nov 201228 Nov 2012 [A segment of my new book, coauthored with Malte Ebach] The classification of clouds Clouds were regarded as so subjective, fleeting and resistant to classification that they were a byword for the failure of empirical classification, until Luke Howard in 1802 proposed the foundation for our present system of cloud… Continue Reading
Biology Jefferson on classification 17 Oct 201217 Oct 2012 The following letter, from this site with permission, was written by Thomas Jefferson in 1814. Apart from demonstrating how low American political life has fallen from its high commencement point, Jefferson shows he was up on the latest disputes in taxonomy. It was written to a Dr John Manners. The opinion… Continue Reading
Evolution Wilkins in the Ukraine, and a special issue on Lyell 28 Sep 201228 Sep 2012 I have been translated again (people never learn). My Macroevolution FAQ: Ukraine translation by Gmail Archive – http://www.stoodio.org/macroevolution. The translator is Vlad Brown, so any errors of fact can now be assigned to someone else… [Thanks Vlad] Also, check out the special issue of the Geological Society of Lond Special… Continue Reading
Epistemology Phylogeny and the history of language and culture 26 Aug 201226 Aug 2012 Increasingly, work is being done using the methods of phylogenetic systematics to uncover cultural and linguistic evolution. A leading lab on this work is Russell Gray’s lab at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. He and his collaborators have looked at the evolution of language, particularly Pacific languages, and… Continue Reading
Evolution A periodic table of insects? More thoughts on classification 25 Aug 201225 Aug 2012 Seen by Malte Ebach at the XXIV International Conference of Entomology in South Korea: What’s fun about this (to a philosopher of taxonomy) is why a periodic table doesn’t serve to classify taxa in biology like this. Instead we get this: [From here] The answer is that elements are, and… Continue Reading
Cognition New publications 25 Aug 201225 Aug 2012 I have added some under-review drafts of my papers to the PhilPapers archive: Essentialism in Biology. Essentialism in philosophy is the position that things, especially kinds of things, have essences, or sets of properties, that all members of the kind must have, and the combination of which only members of the… Continue Reading
Cognition How not to give a keynote 6 Jul 201222 Jun 2018 So we finally managed to get things going for the Poland keynote. It took over half an hour to get the sound working, after a fashion, and the connection was blocky at best. The hardest part was that I kept trying to hear what people were saying at the other… Continue Reading
Ecology and Biodiversity Carnival of Evolution 47: All the Evolution News that’s Fit to Blog 1 May 201221 Jun 2018 Welcome to the 47th edition of the Carnival of Evolution. We have had our science reporters out in force hunting down the best of the blogosphere on evolution and related subjects, and here they are for your delectation and delight and other d-words. First some links I encountered in my… Continue Reading