Epistemology Aware: Dualism and the onus of proof 2 Nov 20232 Nov 2023 In which I discuss animal breath… One is often told or reads that the natural assumption of human cultures more or less universally is that humanity is composed of two parts – the body and the spirit. But I wonder if this is actually the case. There is evidence of… Continue Reading
Metaphysics Aware: A Matter of Perspective 22 Oct 202322 Oct 2023 The next installment.:So, what is the explanatory target with the mind’s consciousness? What is it we physicalists cannot explain that needs the feels to account for? What, exactly, is missing from any possible physical account? Continue Reading
Cognition Aware: Information and Physics 13 Oct 202313 Oct 2023 This one has robots, sort of… Continue Reading
Cognition Substack book writing 8 Oct 20238 Oct 2023 So I am going to publish chapter drafts of a book I am writing on my Substack, and the first one is here. Bats are included. Continue Reading
Biology Species-related publications 8 Sep 20238 Sep 2023 What’s a personal blog for, if not to blow my own horn? Well, it can only be to blow the horns of those who I have collaborated with, of course. Two of my most recent publications are: The first is a chapter in the open Access book edited by Schwartz… Continue Reading
Epistemology Of Interest 5 May 20235 May 2023 One of the questions that have plagued my insomniac nights over the past decade or so is what makes something interesting. There are many proposals. I was reminded of this when I recently read this in Yohan J. John’s essay on cell membranes and boundaries: We have a name for… Continue Reading
Philosophy Understanding Species is here in hard copy 19 Apr 202319 Apr 2023 When I first watched Back to the future, I was mid-undergraduate studies, and had no thought that I would ever publish anything, but I was taken by Grispin Glover’s George McFly getting a box of what looked like 50 copies of his latest novel. The most I have ever gotten… Continue Reading
Philosophy Thoughts on classification 20 Mar 202323 Mar 2023 Species concepts and definitions in science As Robbie Burns once noted, the world is full of things. Philosophers and scientists alike ask whether that also means the world is full of kinds of things. One of the oldest philosophical questions in the western tradition is known by the somewhat opaque title, “The… Continue Reading
Philosophy Order “Understanding Species” now! 28 Feb 202328 Feb 2023 So US is due in April, and Cambridge just sent me the flyer below. Notice how cheap this book is! You can buy 50 for each of your intro to philosophy and history of biology students and still be able to buy end of semester beers! And if you order… Continue Reading
Epistemology Who invented worldviews? 5 Feb 20235 Feb 2023 As a young man/teenager, I heard a lot about worldviews, and didn’t think much of it. The philosophers talked about them, the theologians talked about them, and the gurus talked about them. It was always a choice between worldviews. But it was at best only vaguely communicated by these great… Continue Reading