False botanists 1 May 2009 … says Linnaeus: False BOTANISTS proclaim the Laws of the Art before they have learned them: Extol absurd Authors, and are jealous of the excellent ones: Steal from others, producing nothing of their own: Boast much of a little knowledge: Pretend they have discovered a natural Method: Assert the Genera to be arbitrary. [System Vegetabilis 1774, §27] I wonder who he is talking about. History Species and systematics
Evolution Sudden impact: Darwin on cognition and a leap of faith 19 May 2008 If scientists working in biology or a related field like psychology want to get attention, they will say something like this: Darwin was wrong, or made a mistake, or is insufficient to explain X, where X is whatever they are researching. It makes them seem to be proposing something important,… Read More
Evolution Peace in our time! 18 May 2008 I have been called, for my denial of outright atheism, a Chamberlainist. Well I never felt so much like Neville Chamberlain today as I walked through the corridors of the Seat of Learning* with a contract from the publishers for my book Species: A history of an Idea. I felt… Read More
Ethics and Moral Philosophy Researchers teach gorilla existential angst 31 Mar 2010 I love The Onion. They even get the species right. Read More