Biology A not terribly good post on the species problem 18 Jul 2019 As a biological phenomenon the species problem is worthy of serious study as an end in itself, and not as a mere corollary to work in some other field. It is, to be sure, a problem so fundamentally important that it touches many such fields. Workers in any one of… Continue Reading
Academe ISHPSSB talk revised 11 Jul 2019 So I have double checked the technology (USB-C is marvellous) and the computer and iPhone combo (for remote control of the Keynote) works. All that remains is to deliver it. Now, can anyone remind me what I was talking about? Here’s the revised slides: Continue Reading
Epistemology A talk on understanding 27 Jun 2019 I will be presenting this one at ISHPSSSB in Oslo in a couple of weeks. Comments and objections received with the usual ill grace… Continue Reading
Creationism and Intelligent Design John Ray 3 May 20193 May 2019 This has been submitted as an entry in the Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science, and it is offered here for your delectation and delight… Title of entry: John Ray Synonyms: John Wray; Joanne Raio, Joannis Raii [Lat.] Life John Ray (1627/8–1705, known as Wray until 1670) was an English clergyman… Continue Reading
Australian stuff The Economy Does Not Exist – thoughts prior to the Australian federal election 2019 7 Apr 20197 Apr 2019 In coming days and weeks we are again going to be bombarded with the usual clichés about the economy. This or that will be good for or bad for The Economy. As a philosopher of sorts, I have problems with this. Some background first. In the philosophy of the social… Continue Reading
General Science Lucretius and the papal secretary 25 Feb 201927 Feb 2019 In 1417, during the Council of Constance that reunited the Catholic Church in the west, a papal secretary took advantage of the location in Germany to visit some libraries, while the papacy was vacant. He was hunting manuscripts, but not the newly written ones. Instead Gian Francesco Poggio was seeking… Continue Reading
Philosophy Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion 8 Jan 201927 Feb 2019 Readers may recall that I once posted a PDF of Hume’s Dialogues with the dialogues coloured by speaker. Recently I was asked by Alexander Afriat, of the Université de Bretagne Occidentale, for the same in EPub format. So I have converted it (without too many errors, I hope) to EPub… Continue Reading
Evolution What is special about humans? 23 Nov 201827 Feb 2019 As soon as somebody asks the question “what is a ____?” we get into trouble. Not because we do not know about the thing in the blank, but because we tend to have the wrong idea about how to answer that question. Since the Greeks, the general feeling is that… Continue Reading
History In defence of taxonomists [plus ça change] 7 Mar 20187 Mar 2018 I sympathize with the physiologist or ecologist, who after he has written a luminous paper on a Cratoegus or Viola, or Rosa, or Opuntia, endeavors to ascertain the proper name for his plant; but I do not sympathize with his objurgations against the whole tribe of species makers. There is… Continue Reading