History John Ray on species fixity and race 19 Sep 202019 Sep 2020 For since in nature the number of species is fixed and determined, since ‘God on the sixth day rested from all his labour’, that is, from the creation of new species, however infinite might be the number of plants varying in colour and multiplicity of flower, with new ones arising… 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
Biology A nineteenth century view on classification 18 Oct 201420 Oct 2014 The principle upon which I understand the Natural System of Botany to be founded is, that the affinities of plants may be determined by a consideration of all the points of resemblance between their various parts, properties, and qualities; that thence an arrangement may be deduced in which those species… Continue Reading
Epistemology Evolution quotes: The English and theories 11 Dec 2012 ‘What I really like about the English is that they don’t have theories. No Englishman would ever have said, “I think, therefore I am.” Although possibly he might have said, “I think, therefore I am, I think.”‘ [Solomon, from Dodger, by Terry Pratchett, p219] Continue Reading
Ethics and Moral Philosophy Evolution quotes: Social Darwinism by Haldane 23 Oct 201223 Oct 2012 The actual application of Darwinism to contemporary capitalist society is quite clear. The poor leave more offspring behind them in each generation than the rich. So they are fitter from a Darwinian point of view. And if, on the average, they differ genetically from the rich, their innate characteristics are… Continue Reading
Philosophy Evolution quotes: Theories are not the whole of science 12 May 201212 May 2012 I opened Structure of Scientific Theories asserting that the “most central or important” problem in philosophy of science is “the nature and structure of theories . . . . For theories are the vehicle of scientific knowledge and one way or another become involved in most aspects of the scientific… Continue Reading
Evolution Evolution quotes: Socialism 9 May 20129 May 2012 To the biologist the problem of socialism appears largely as a problem of size. The extreme socialists desire to run every nation as a single business concern. I do not suppose that Henry Ford would find much difficulty in running Andorra or Luxembourg on a socialistic basis. He has already… Continue Reading
Humor Evolution quotes: Arguments 4 May 20125 May 2012 Arguments have no chance against petrified training; they wear it as little as the waves wear a cliff. Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court Continue Reading
Epistemology Evolution Quotes: Twain on inference about the past 3 Apr 20123 Apr 2012 Now, if I wanted to be one of those ponderous scientific people, and “let on” to prove what had occurred in the remote past by what had occurred in a given time in the recent past, or what will occur in the far future by what has occurred in late… Continue Reading
History Quote: Nominalism 16 Feb 201216 Feb 2012 Nominalism has often been misunderstood in the past, perhaps because of the associations of the word itself. Properly conceived, nominalism has nothing to do with names. It is, quite precisely, the thesis that everything which exists is an individual, and is moreover an individual in itself, and not merely as a… Continue Reading